Gotika
by STupIdWiNsAGaIn
Summary: A secretive, but strong ally to the Animorphs; an adversary to be feared. Good thing she's on their side, but is she really what she seems to be? And what will become of her?
1. Prologue

**Animorphs Fanfic**

**Prologue**

The battle was raging all around me. I looked everywhere, searching for the source of the cry, but only saw aliens from end to end, side to side. Who could have been the one who screamed so loudly, so desperately? Maybe it had been one of the hosts? Or could it have been one of my allies? I looked around again, but saw only death.

It had been a voice inside my head, so it was more likely to be one of my allies. Crap, how could this have happened? I had volunteered my life to this cause, but now I let one of my own allies get killed by a Hork-Bajir? That was so wrong, it couldn't have happened! I had seen that group in battle, and they were fierce, strong fighters. They had done so much to our enemy that I almost envied them. What I did envy about them was their sense of recognition toward one another, their sense of trust.

Go! a voice suddenly cried in my head. I whipped my head around to find an orange and black Siberian tiger standing close to me. I recognized his voice; he was in my history class at the high school, but I didn't know his name. But his beautiful orange and black face looked straight at me. Look, I don't know your name or who you are, or even what you are, but you need to get out of here. Leave this to us!

Insults? I was disgusted by him. He thought I was weak! No, I'm not leaving! I yelled back at him, as if over a huge crowd. Not until I get these people out of here! I'm not your dummy that you can just toss aside when you're done with it.

He had turned around, but now he turned around again to face me. I never said that, he retorted firmly. It's just that you're not part of my team and I don't want to be responsible for you if you get hurt, it's nothing personal. But what he didn't realize was just how personal it really was. It sounded like, since I wasn't a member of his team, I just didn't matter to him. Although, I must admit, he didn't matter much to me persoanally either, so it wasn't that bad.

You don't have to show any hospitality to me, but I'm not leaving. I don't have to take orders from you, and I didn't ask for anything from you! I don't want to leave these people behind, and I won't just let them get killed! And if you make me leave, you're just asking me to commit murder, I retorted to him angrily. I wasn't about to let him boss me around like that, which he knew, so why was he trying? This was one of the most gruesome fights we had been in lately, and I wasn't going to leave all of these innocent hosts and my own allies alone without my help.

He looked at me and, despite the tiger's beautiful face, I could still see the defiance of the human boy behind the mask.

If anyone should leave, it's you and your team. No one is going to be caught by Visser Three but me. He already knows who I am anyway, so it won't matter. Just go, and I'll hold the rest off.

What are you talking about? We never give up, let alone leave someone behind! he yelled at me angrily.

I glared at him through my own mask, and prayed that he could see the determination in my eyes. Go, I told him calmly. I'll follow, but you need to leave. Now! I'll make sure none of your team gets left behind, I promise.

How do I know this isn't just a trap? You said he already knows who you are, so--

You'll just have to trust me! I shrieked, getting irritated. Now tell them you're leaving, or I'll do it myself, dimwit! Besides, if I were a controller, I wouldn't be able to communicate with you by this kind of communication unless it was the Yeerk's voice, I pointed out.

Good point, he said.

Yeah, I agreed, keeping my voice calm by a lot of concentration. Now call them back, or we'll all die!

I noticed that he hesitated, but I tried to keep calm for the sake of them and for my own butt. Finally, he called in thought-speak to his team, who he and they knew as the Animorphs, Guys, fall back! We've gotta get out of here! There was just one more clue that he wasn't in the military: he was informal. Plus his age, which was the same as mine.

I saw a huge, African elephant galumphing toward me and I quickly moved out of the way before she could trample me, followed by a huge-and-incredibly-strong gorilla, a beautiful grey wolf, a red-tailed hawk, which flew like a bullet past me, an Andalite, with its amazing tail held high behind him, and finally, a horrific-yet-absolutely-beautiful Siberian tiger, all bleeding at one spot or another. They were a very odd group, I must say. I didn't see what was going on after they passed because all the aliens ganged up on me.

They were followed by Controllers, Hork-Bajir and other creatures which I could not name. And I held them all off as long as I dared until I could hold them off no longer and was worried I would become a Controller soon if I didn't get out of there right then, so I backed away as fast as I could, and climbed up the narrow stairs. The occasional creature or controller broke free of the crowd and chased after me, but I attacked them as easily and as fast as liquid with my agile body and amazing muscles. I morphed as I went up the stairs, slowly changing back into my human form, slowly losing my already-poor vision. But I could hear them all, chasing me, clawing at my feet as I backed quickly up the stairs.

When I reached the door, I walked out, feeling for the doorknob and closing it in front of me as I backed out and locked it as quickly as I possibly could. Good thing that shed had a bolt on the outside, not the inside -- and it was metal, which was harder to break through. I heard the crowd on the other side banging on the doors, the Hork-Bajir slicing in vain on the other side.

I sighed in relief and tried not to imagine what would happen if they actually ended up getting out. I didn't care to stay to find out either, so I morphed into a golden eagle and flew straight up into the daylight. Every time, the beauty of that clear, blue sky broke something inside me and I always practiced doing flips and twirls through the air, concentrating on the beautiful feeling of wind passing through my tight feathers, the amazingly sharp eyesight of my eagle's eyes, the feeling of beating my wings up and down, up and down, the heat from exercise that made this whole thing so incredible. Plus, the knowledge that if one of my wings suddenly stopped working, there was only thin air between me and my home, the ground. That was what made this whole thing so exhilarating.


	2. Jamie

**Chapter 1**

**Jamie**

I stuck my head out the window, feeling the lush air brush my hair out of my face and kiss my skin gently as it swerved kindly around my head. The sensation was amazing, just like flying, only in my own body. I could almost feel the wings pumping on my back, my muscles moving to keep myself up in the air, going roughly sixty miles an hour. I loved the sensation of just being able to fly, to feel the feathers on my face, the amazing feeling of swooping in and out of thermals, floating up and coming down again, above and below water-filled clouds, breathing that thin air with such ease. I sucked in a bunch of oxygen from outside as if thinking I was actually flying and sighed, letting it all out, remembering that I wasn't a bird.

Then the car wrecked my fantasy by stopping and jerking me forward. I opened my eyes, but still didn't see anything, which made my mood even worse.

"Alright, James, we're here," Dad announced over my grumbling.

"Yeah, yeah," I replied as rudely as I could manage.

"Hey, don't take that tone with me. And I'll be here to pick you up after class, so don't pull any funny business like getting out early just so you can sneak off, okay?" Dad insisted. I turned to where his voice was and rolled my eyes meaningfully, which meant I understood. "Okay?" he pressed.

"Okay!" I said, annoyed. "Did you not see the eye roll?"

"Yes, I saw it, but I decided not to acknowledge it. Don't think that just because you're blind, you can get away with anything you do," he told me. I rolled my eyes again. "And don't you dare think that just because you're the daughter of a cop, you can do anything you want either, missy. I've heard some of the things you do, and believe me, I'm not proud of it. I'm _this close _to being a disgrace because of some of those things." I assumed he put his hand up and held his index finger and thumb together to demonstrate.

"I can't see it," I reminded him as I climbed out of the car, feeling for the curb with my foot. He sighed.

"Don't be a brat," he ordered. I was out of the car now and searching for the door so I could close it.

"Sorry, can't help you there." I slammed the door shut. "Pick me up at seven thirty this time, Dad, or I'll have to walk home like last time," I told him through the open window.

"You didn't walk home, you got a ride with Keiichi. By the way, I don't want you hanging around with him anymore, he's a bad influence for you. So are Hack and John. I liked Rachel and Cassie better. Why don't you hang out with them anymore?" He just didn't get it.

I didn't answer him; I turned away from the car and toward the building that was hopefully behind me. He had to park in the same spot every time so I could find my way to my tae kwon do class at six every other day of the week except on weekends.

This was a "special class" for blind people. They put targets in front of us and we had to aim perfectly in front of us to hit them. We never did line work because there was always that constant threat of one of us not paying attention and kicking the person in front of us because we didn't see him/her. Ha-ha, get it? The mental image I found pretty funny, but I wasn't sure about the real thing. It could be a dominos effect. I laughed at the image again.

The class today was pretty good, though. It was challenging, which was the only way I would/could ever get stronger. It was also the only way I ever liked it: tough, hard to get through, feeling like there was no way out of the pain, pushing myself to the limit. Oh, it felt great. This was the only place where I actually obeyed anyone other than my own instincts. Of course, if I didn't obey anyone in this place, I would probably get about a hundred and fifty knuckle pushups. Gee, that sounded fun. Oh well, it made me stronger.

By the end of the class, I was completely drained and just wanted to go home. I couldn't exactly walk, because I didn't know the obstacles in my way or how to get home. Great. Look who had to wait for Dad.

"Hey," said a familiar voice from beside me. He was close.

"Hi, Hack," I replied boredly. It was actually his nickname. His real name was Henry (no wonder he had a nickname). He was tall and big-boned, so he was pretty big. He also spent most of his time beating on small children, and sometimes adults, so he was pretty strong. Kidding, it was mostly people his own age. I didn't exactly agree with a lot of the stuff he did like that. We called him Hack because he was so big that he looked like he could just hack someone's head off by hitting them in the nose. He was also really good at hackie-sack.

"You sound bored. You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, perfectly fine," I replied sarcastically, rubbing my aching shoulders. I was so annoyed right then that it wasn't even funny, because nothing was funny. Have you ever noticed how much people say that something is so much that it's not even funny? Hence, nothing is funny. "I hate that I can't walk home," I muttered.

"You could," he countered, "You would just have to know the way."

"Yeah, and all the stuff _in_ my way, like concrete with great big cars on it!" I said, dripping sarcasm from my bloody fangs. I sighed and decided to change the subject. "What are you doing here anyway?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just looking for you," he said. I looked up, suddenly intrigued by that.

"Really?" I asked skeptically.

"Uh-huh."

"Why, is there something going on?" I asked, turning my head so that my long brown hair brushed against my back.

"You know, it's creepy how you do that. Even though you can't see me, you're still staring right at me like you can." I rolled my eyes, knowing what he was doing.

"Hack," I said, annoyed, "Continue with the topic."

He quickly added as if he was planning on it the whole time, "And yes, there is something going on, but it's in a warehouse up the street. It's only on right now, though, so you'll have to miss your dad if he comes and you're not here," he added as if to drive me away from whatever was going on. It didn't work.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Come on, out with it. What is it?" I asked as he took hold of my forearm to lead me. He didn't answer. "Don't tell me John and Keiichi have some old guy pinned against a wall, demanding money," I joked. I heard him chuckle at that, but he still didn't answer, which is something he doesn't do a lot. _Why was he acting so weird? _I wondered as he pulled me along toward the warehouse. I considered Controller, but pushed that option away because he was my friend. I knew it could happen to anyone, but it hadn't happened to my friends. Not yet, at least. "Hack?"

"Just follow me," he said.

I suddenly felt a little weird, following him around town like I didn't know how to do it myself, but he knew where this place was and I didn't. And he was my friend, so I trusted him.

I heard something coming from inside the warehouse, like yelling, and suddenly the Controller option came back and I took my arm out of his huge hand, which wasn't easy. I could tell he wanted to hang onto me, I just didn't know why. And I didn't want to.

"I'll just follow the noises from now on, but thanks," I said, trying to sound normal rather than completely paranoid. I dropped behind him a little and slowed my walk, wishing I was in morph right then, so I could see what was going on and defend myself if this was an attack. But I couldn't show myself right then, not if he wasn't a Controller and didn't know about me, like Visser Three did.

"Something wrong?" he asked, sounding so unlike Hack that I couldn't help but be suspicious. But I had to push the what-ifs away. To be a warrior I had to be certain, I had to be sure of what I heard, and I did not hear any evil-Controller vibes in his voice. But I was bias. To be a warrior, I couldn't be bias. I had to be fair, I had to face it, I had to. But I didn't want to. He was my friend. He couldn't be one of _them._

Right then, he opened the door of the warehouse and the noises of yelling and screaming escalated, but not enough for them to be right in front of me. I knew that they were under me somewhere, and I didn't want to see them.

"Hack? What is that?" I asked, trying to sound more curious than anything else.

"Jasmine," he said in a very peaceful, un-Hack-like voice. A whole pack of ice cubes just slid down my back, making my entire body go tense and my mind close off. "We know who you are. We know what you are. If you would just come out and join us, we wouldn't have to be forceful."

I forced myself to swallow, which -- for me -- was the first step to thinking again when I froze.


	3. All's Fair in War

A/N: I don't own Animorphs or its characters. Also, for the record, I don't own K.A. Applegate either. Just to make that clear.

Don't you just love Jamie? Haha.

**Chapter 2**

**All's Fair in War**

This couldn't be happening to me. It just couldn't be real. I didn't want to attack my own friend, it just wasn't right! But I knew that if I had to fight him, I would. I wanted to die just as much as I wanted to hurt him. But I also knew I couldn't show any weakness in front of a Yeerk. I tried to get my composure back.

"Alright, what do you want, slug?" I demanded. "To make me a Controller? To get me on your side? Is there anything else you would like me to think up?"

"I want nothing with you, ignorant fool. I know that you work with the Andalite Bandits and we both know that Visser Three wants them. _I _want _you _to capture them and bring them to me, so I can take them to Visser Three," he replied, as if he actually expected me to go along with it.

"Uh-huh," I said in a bored voice. "So, let me guess, you get all the credit and then make me into a Controller when you're done with me?" I let out a sardonic laugh and finished my statement with, "Call me crazy, but I'll have to say that the stakes are a little high on that offer."

The Yeerk laughed mockingly at me, making me want to stand my ground even more. I managed to keep a straight face, not showing any emotion, and just frowned at him.

"What's so funny?" I demanded. He laughed again and I couldn't help but deepen my frown, but it was of confusion now.

"You," it replied happily. "Your naiveté, the fact that you're so utterly full of yourself." I narrowed my eyes at him and just managed to hide my scowl.

"I'm not full of myself, slug. You're the arrogant one here, not me. Do you see me as a simple, almost non-existent life form trying to take over the world with a pathetic attempt at controlling innocent human beings and trying -- unsuccessfully, might I add -- to thwart a bunch of people who you don't even know the real species of? For all you know, they might as well be human," I countered, keeping my voice smooth and calm rather than trembling with rage at this pitiful creature. "No, you don't," I said, answering my own question.

He hesitated, and for a second I was almost naïve enough to think that I had won, but no; an arrogant slug like that would never allow it. "In that case, I have another proposal for you, human," it said in Hack's voice.

I almost smirked, but then remembered that he could see me, even though I couldn't. "And what would that be?" What was with him and his species? These monsters always wanted the last word.

"Tell me if you agree to this: you bring me the Andalite Bandits, or you will take their place and become a slave to the Visser once again. But this time, there will be no escape."

I stopped my eyes from widening at the last second as fury pumped through my veins. Me or them? No, I couldn't give them away. I didn't even know who they were! "How about this, slug: no. I won't give them away, even if you do make me a Controller, because even if you tortured me, how can you expect me to give them away just like that?" I took a step forward, knowing the exact location of his voice, exactly where he was standing. "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean that you can take complete control of me, Yeerk. I won't do what you tell me to do, and I wouldn't even if you were in my head. When I was one of you, I fought, and I fought hard. The Yeerk died, remember?" I stepped forward again so that I was right in front of him, and I grabbed the collar of his shirt to pull him forward. I could feel him breathing on me, I could smell his breath, I could almost taste it. I pulled a swiss army knife out of my pocket, flipped the blade out, and put it to his throat. I didn't want to hurt him, but if I had to I would. "You know that I would just do it again. Don't make me do it to you too. Now leave my friend and find another host, you leach."

He was silent for who knows how long, and in that time, I felt his heartbeat through his shirt collar, felt his breath on my face, smelled it, tasted it. His heartbeat was fast and uneven, like he was scared. Then I heard him laugh. He grabbed the knife and pulled it from my hands, and after a lot of confusion, he put me in a Nelson headlock. He held the knife to my throat, pushing it against my skin. I could feel blood trickle down my neck and wanted to turn my head to I could get air, but that was impossible unless I wanted a slit throat as a "just-because" present. So I felt along his elbow for a weak point, a pressure point that would get me out of this mess.

"Now look who has the upper hand," he whispered into my ear. I hid all signs of pain as he dug the knife deeper into my neck and a searing heat shot into me. "One twitch and you could die," he said, "So no funny business. OK pumpkin?" he added lightly.

"No promises," I managed to choke out.

"Well then, I have an idea for a new offer: the Andalite Bandits, you…" He leaned closer to my ear and whispered menacingly, "or your parents."

My eyes widened in terror and rage. "Never!" I screamed, and I stepped on his foot as hard as I could. He loosened his grip in surprise and pain. I pulled his hand away from my neck and pushed my finger into a pressure point on his hand before he could do anything else, so he dropped the knife. I twisted his arm around into an angle it wasn't supposed to go in and I pushed him hard against the wall of the warehouse. I bent his arm at the elbow and put it far up his spine and pushed, so he whimpered in pain. "You touch them, and you're dead. I will find a way to get you out of Hack, but if you leave him before I get to you, then you're still out of luck, because I will hunt you down. And I will KILL you! Do you understand me?" I seethed into his ear.

The Yeerk growled at me. "No. It will take much more than one pathetic bandit to bring down a whole army of us. Did you not realize that if you kill me now, you'll have to kill your little friend too? Or did you miss that fine detail, with your puny, undeveloped mind?"

I grunted loudly in rage as I shoved him against the wall harder, just longing to kill that Yeerk now, before he did anything to my family. I would kill him one day. I swore I would. "Number one rule in battle: _never _underestimate your opponent. You of all people should know that, yet right now, that's what you're doing. If I could to kill you right now, I wouldn't hesitate. I'm sure my friend would be better off dead than with the likes of you in his head anyway. Am I right, Hack? Yes, I am." I shoved him even harder into the wall and brought his arm up further now. He grunted in pain and I felt him go farther into the wall as if trying to get away from me. "The only thing stopping me right now is the consequences of having killed another human being. I just couldn't live with that guilt," I added sarcastically. The sad truth is that I probably couldn't. "You touch _anyone _in my family and I swear that I will tear you in shreds, no matter whose body you're in. Got it?"

He didn't answer.

"Got it?!" I yelled into his ear. He winced and tried to struggle away from my grip, but it just hurt him more. "Do you understand?" I demanded again.

"Yes," he squeaked reluctantly, letting that Yeerk pride go for a moment. I let him go when he said that.

"Good." I just hoped he knew I was serious. I hardly ever made threats like that, but when I did, the person I was giving them to usually knew not to mess with me. If he laid one finger on anyone I was even distantly related to, I would kill that Yeerk.

I'm sorry to say that all's fair in war.


	4. And There It Goes

**Chapter 3**

**The Unsuspecting Victim**

I heard my dad's car pull up and turned toward the noise of the engine turning off and the driver's door opening. Crap.

"Jamie?" he called, and I instinctively let go of Hack -- or what was posing as Hack.

I realized I had no choice but to go home now. I didn't want to, but I had to because, well, where else could I go? I couldn't see anything and it wasn't like I could hear the sidewalk moving. I could hear cars coming toward me, but I wouldn't know how long it would take for me to cross the street, because I wouldn't know how far across the other sidewalk would be. Hence, the choicelessness. Then again, I could have morphed. But in front of a Yeerk? That's new.

I heard Dad's footsteps going all over, looking for me and I almost called him over, until Hack's voice told me mockingly to do just that. I knew I couldn't go home because Hack might follow me and he would have easy access to my family. But remember what I said about him touching them? The only ones I had in this world who still loved me? Well, let's just say he'd have to get through me first. And even if he brought a whole army of Yeerks, he would never get to them.

On the other hand, if Dad found Hack standing there alone, he would offer him a ride and that would give him even easier access to them. But then I remembered Dad's words about Hack, John and Keiichi. He didn't like them, so maybe he wouldn't offer him a ride. But that would be lucky. What if Hack said he would walk home? No, that was ridiculous; he lived ten minutes out of the city, and that was traveling by car. He knew perfectly well that he couldn't walk, as did my dad.

I grimaced, knowing what I had to do.

"Dad, over here!" I called, and waved a hand in the general direction of his voice.

"Good girl," Hack murmured as my father walked over, sounding urgent. I elbowed him fiercely in the ribs, but he caught my elbow and slammed a fist down on it, giving me a vicious charlie-horse right on my muscle. My face tensed in pain, but that was about as much as he was going to get.

There was the sound of my dad's shoes coming right at me and my heart clenched when I realized the possibilities of what could happen in the next thirty seconds. What would Hack do?

"James! What the heck is wrong with you? I told you to wait at the curb for me, so why am I finding you out here, near a warehouse at the end of the block with Henry, doing who knows what?!" he demanded.

"Dad!" I cried anxiously. He had always thought I had a thing for Hack, but I didn't. What? I really didn't! OK, I might have once, but not since I found out he was a Controller! There, I admitted it! Now leave me alone! Stop prodding me!

"What? We were just having some fun," Hack said playfully. I heard him closing the warehouse doors quickly before Dad could hear any cries or screams of terror. My cheeks flushed, both out of embarrassment and rage; that was the exact kind of thing that Hack would say. In the same tone too.

I heard my dad advancing on him and stiffened. I stepped between him and Hack and pressed on his chest, pushing him away.

"Dad…"

"You stay away from her," he said threateningly to Hack. "I have way more authority than you will _ever_ have, young man, and I will get you put away for any dirt I can find if you touch her. Do you understand me?"

"Hey, dude, I was just joking, chill. I wouldn't actually do something to her," he lied. The Yeerk knew very well that he would have killed me if I didn't know how to defend myself… or whatever he meant.

"Hack," I snapped, whipping round to face him. "Don't call him 'dude', it sounds so lame. And Dad, don't do anything to him, OK?" I added quickly, feeling my dad advancing again. "He was just playing around with you." I felt my father take a step back and sighed inwardly in relief.

There was a moment of silence in which the air hung heavy with hostility. Not kidding.

"Get in the car," Dad ordered suddenly. At first I thought he was talking to me and I started toward the car, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "Get in the car," he repeated. He sounded stressed and angry, like he had just commited a crime and he was afraid he would get caught.

What was he doing? I felt a pang of regret at myself for not making my dad leave right away and taking me with him. Instead, I let the worst possible thing happen: I let him get caught in his own net, and I hadn't even tried to stop it.

"Hey, thanks," Hack answered appreciatively, walking over to the car with me once my dad let my arm go.

I heard him get in the front, which was where I was about to get in, so I had to go to the back seat. That was so unfair. I was about to complain, but before I could the door shut beside me and I was locked in for safety. Although, I wasn't sure it was so safe with Hack the Slug with us. I scowled at the back of the front seat and held down a nervous swallow. I had no idea what would come next and it scared me half to death; I always had a plan.

I heard Hack fiddling with something in his pocket and pointed my head warningly at him. He stopped.

"You in James?" Dad asked me. I heard Hack look back at me.

"Yep, she's in Mr. P," Hack reported as I belted myself in.

"I am now," I muttered angrily. The car started moving.

The ride was fairly quiet on the way to Hack's house and the air thick with tension. I knew my dad would want to kill me when we got back home, so I let the air hang and the words stayed in my throat, unmoving with no sound. The worst part was that it would last for another few minutes. I scowled at the thought and wanted to growl at the back of Hack's head, wanted to lash out, to tear him apart. I knew that Hack would want me to get him out of there, mainly because he wouldn't know what was going on while he was in there, but I also knew anyone would rather die than be a slave any longer. That made me wonder what he was like under life-and-death pressure. I frowned, unable to come up with an answer for myself.

"Hey, Mr. P?" Hack's voice snapped me back to reality and out of my miserable, horrified-for-my-dad's-life haze.

"What is it?" Dad asked, sounding exasperated.

"I forgot to tell you when you came to pick Jamie up. It was your birthday last month, wasn't it?"

"Uh-huh," Dad answered boredly.

"Well, I forgot to give you a present. Isn't that just so insensitive of me?" I detected sarcasm in his voice, but decided not to say anything because I was too busy being on guard.

"I suppose it is," Dad replied distractedly. He still sounded bored.

"Well, I brought it for you here. That's what I was talking to Jamie about." Liar. Wait a minute, he was lying. That meant only one thing. My heart sped up almost immediately and I tensed just as fast, ready to snap if I had to.

"Alright, out with it, Henry, what is it really?" Dad demanded, still sounding bored. I heard someone cocking a gun and my eyes widened in horror. No, no, I told him to stay away! I told him that I would kill him! I told him he'd pay! That was something that was supposed to draw him away from killing my parents!

Hack's voice was unnaturally smooth when he spoke next. It had the oily sound of a deluded evil person. "Pull over. And don't call me Henry; I hate that."

My eyes widened in horror and I knew what was going on. "No!" I cried, and I undid my belt so I could reach him better to get the gun out of his hand, but it was too late. By then he had already pulled the trigger and I felt my dad's blood spatter on me from the front. I screamed out of reflex and shoved myself against the back of the car seat as if the blood had knocked me back. My eyes were suddenly as wide as they would go and my breath was so shallow. I suddenly felt so cold, so stiff, so unlike me. I was panicking, felt my mind reeling, wondering what had just happened, hearing the gunshot over and over again in my head, feeling the blood dripping down my face, down into my shirt, soaking me. The sound of my own blood rushing in my ears, going up to my temples, swimming there, taunting me, begging me to get mad. My heart pumped so fast I felt like I couldn't move, I couldn't keep up with it. My breath was shaky, uneven. I couldn't breathe properly. My lungs were lacking.

A car door slammed and snapped me back to reality, bringing with it one thought, one feeling, one emotion: Revenge. Anger. Rage. Tears stung my eyes and I wanted to tell my dad to wake up, tell him to get up and chase Hack. I wanted to shake him and scream in his ear, but the less naïve part of me argued that it wouldn't work. The sensible side of my mind told me to stay calm, but to get Hack on my own, or call the police. My dad was the police. And I didn't have a phone.

Morph. Owl. When the words registered in my mind, I realized what I had to do and climbed out of the car as quickly as I could and stripped out of my outer clothing; I hadn't figured out how to morph regular clothes yet, and I didn't think it was possible. I wore a black jumpsuit under it that was skintight.

Tears streaming down my face, I started morphing a great grey owl, feeling the feathers climb my skin, feeling my mouth turn into a sharp beak made for ripping flesh, my feet into taloned bird's feet, made for killing, for gouging eyes. At least, that was what they would be used for today.

I flew, with my new raptor vision, my incredible hearing. I could see that we were on the edge of a forest as I gained altitude, climbing the air itself as if it were a ladder, flapping my wings vigorously to get away from the prison of the ground.

I saw him running, I heard him under the foliage.

(You killed him!) I screamed at him. I could feel my wings beating angrily, almost ferociously, my eyes glued on him. I caught a fleeting glance of blue in the corner of my eye, but I ignored it, only thinking about revenge. (You killed my dad! I'll kill you! I swear, I'll kill you! How could you do this to me? You freak! You abomination! You're unnatural! Get out of him! Get out of my friend's head! Do it now!)

I pulled my wings in, feeling the owl's fear at my anger, my rage, my lust for revenge. I dropped ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet, fifty feet! I was going faster, faster, faster, as I quickly lost altitude. I was going to gouge out his eyes with my talons, and I screamed in his ear. I would slap his head with my large wings. I would peck at his scalp, viciously tearing away the flesh, at the same time. I aimed for his head, for what I saw of his head. He was running, but I would catch up to him. I _always_ caught my prey.

"You can't catch me, Jamie!" he yelled up at me once he knew I could hear him. "_You're_ the abomination! If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have died! So don't blame me for what _you_ did! If you had only agreed to bringing me the Bandits!"

I let out an ear-piercing screech and screamed at the same time in my head, in his head, pulling my wings in further, going faster, falling faster! I suddenly found I didn't want to pull up, I just wanted to go headlong into him, crushing his skull, flattening my own beak. But then I realized I would be living with the remorse with killing my own friend after I morphed again.

But the fury in me didn't care. I was going to kill him, no matter how much remorse I felt.

He killed my father.


	5. The Decision

**Chapter 4**

**The Decision**

The rage inside me was coming to the surface, making me go faster, making me seek out anything I could just to tear it apart and do the same to something else -- preferably Hack's Yeerk. It wouldn't get away from me, not with an attitude like that -- taunting me, yelling at me that it was my fault. It wasn't my fault, I knew it wasn't! It couldn't be.

No. It wasn't my fault. I would know, it couldn't be my fault that he died. It was the Yeerk's fault; he was the one who had killed him, he was the one who had threatened me. He said it was either me, the Andalite Bandits, or my parents, and I had said no to all three of the choices. I promised him I would kill him if he touched even one member of my family.

I had promised to protect my dad. But I failed. I'd said that if he killed my family, I would kill him. But I had let him into the car, I had let him into reach of my father by letting him into the front seat with him. Even by going with him to the warehouse was stupid. To let him get to my family like that was even stupider! Why did I have to be so dumb all the time?!

I pulled up, flaring my wings and catching the air beneath them just before I broke through the many branches of the trees, and I began to soar above the foliage, above the Yeerk that had my friend locked in a cell in his own head.

It was my fault. All of it was my fault. My father's death was my fault because I hadn't taken the gun away from Hack in time to save him. My friend's prison was my fault because I hadn't been there to protect him either. I was a failure, simple as that. I had failed everyone that I cared about except the Andalite Bandits now, and I was determined not to fail them. I had failed my mom by letting my dad die, my little sister by stealing her father's life from him. Why was I so freaking stupid?

I flapped to gain altitude again and backpedaled toward the starry night sky. Who would I fail next, I wondered, Who would I let down? Who would I kill? I couldn't kill anyone directly, but I was an asset to why they died. It was always my fault; the reason my friend was a Controller, the reason my dad was dead, the reason my mom and sister were devastated and probably worrying about us right now, was me. I was this world's worst enemy.

With that, I came to a conclusion: I had to continue fighting with the Bandits, of course, I had no choice, but I could never show them who I really was. Every time that happened, someone died or something bad happened to anyone I knew. It was always someone I cared about, and I cared about all of the Andalite Bandits. I couldn't let anything bad happen to them, it was too much of a risk. I had to lie low, keep a low profile, keep my identity to myself. Hidden in the darkness.

It was the only way that we, together, could defeat the infamous Visser Three and his mischievous gang of Yeerks. I had to hide and I had to continue hiding for the sake of the world.


	6. Gotika

_**Chapter 5**_

**Gotika**

I went to a cliff near the beach to clear my head. I had to be alone right then. The pain of the realization I had just made was too much for me to take home, so my mom and Dana would see it. I couldn't let them see me like this. I would tell them about it when I got home, but not now. I couldn't now.

I landed on the cliff and slowly began to morph, sorrow and anguish making the reactions from my body slower than they would normally be. The morphing process was smooth for me, all the actions in which I changed were smooth, never in the same order, but always easy. It never hurt, but it felt like it should, in a weird way. If you know what I mean.

I sat on the edge of the cliff when I morphed, so I wouldn't have to walk over to it and likely miss the edge and go toppling off, head over heels. I never used a cane because I figured I didn't need one. I could manage on my own, without one except when I needed to walk home alone or something like that. My vision slowly dissipated and was soon gone, along with everything else bird-like.

I came here a lot, actually, whenever I needed to just clear my head. I would come here and listen to the waves crashing up against the cliff beneath me. I would concentrate on the feeling of my feet dangling down over the side, knowing that if the cliff broke I would go tumbling down into the ocean after going head-over-heels over the multitude of rocks that my feet occasionally touched, some of which crumbled and fell. I would listen to them fall and hear them splash into the ocean and imagine that being me. I never imagined what came next, though. To be honest, I didn't really want to know. The sound up here was just so peaceful that I couldn't seem to concentrate on anything but the good stuff.

But today was different; it wasn't peaceful for me right now, it was painful. I had to relive the blood from my father's body trickling down my shirt, down my face, landing on my legs and sliding gently down the sides of my thighs. The memory brought tears to my eyes again and I tried to hold them back from sliding down my face, until I remembered that I was alone and I could cry if I wanted to. But I didn't want to cry, and I knew that birds couldn't. I also wanted to see.

I morphed a great grey owl again and launched myself into the air with the practiced skill of someone who had done this a million times, always following what I knew of the owl's knowledge of flying and my own human logic.

I flew out over the ocean, watching the waves ripple up against the rocks, the clear blue-green colour of the water now black, the darkness of the sky reflecting off of it. I saw the reflection of the moon a little ways away and stared at it, hovering over the water. It was beautiful, I thought. I stared out at the water, almost envious of the way it was so free to do anything it wanted, go anywhere it wanted. Then again, I was kind of like that water, wasn't I? I could go anywhere I wanted and still be free, just as long as I was in a different body, taking on the form of any animal that could go there.

I sighed inwardly and looked out at the unending body of water and stared at it for a few more seconds before heading toward the cliff again. I wondered how I would tell Mom and Dana about Dad. How would they find out if I didn't tell them? The news, newspapers? Or would they ask me where we were, what had happened, how it happened, who did it? Dread overwhelmed me again. And just like that, the pain came.

It started in my shoulders and spread through my joints, through my bones and through my tissue, my skin. I could feel it working its way down to my feet.

I cried out in agony and felt my body twist involuntarily in the air due to the pain. It came again, making me writhe and thrash and twist and turn. I screamed now, unconsciously feeling myself dropping down, down. I wasn't paying attention to that. I could feel the pain in my intestines, it was so strong. I looked at my wings, but didn't see wings. I saw hands and when I looked down I saw human feet. Soon my vision faded out and my hearing lessened, but I could still hear everything around me. Panicking, I lashed out at the air, feeling rocks and stones either slip through my fingers or crumble when I touched them. I screamed again as a jolt of white hot searing pain made me jerk involuntarily and my flailing arm was sliced open by a sturdy rock that I felt beside me.

Realizing it was there, I reached out for it, but missed because by then I had already fallen by five feet and I couldn't reach it.

The water splashed all around me and I felt a sudden, cold, wetness cloud my senses and send me into an utterly blind panic. I was cold, my body couldn't move, and I couldn't breathe. I tried to suck in air, but only received a lungful of salty water. I tried to stop myself from trying again, but my body had control now and I couldn't stop it. I sucked in more water, trying my best to get oxygen. I didn't know which way was up, which was down. I screamed for help, but no one heard except the fish around me. Water filled my mouth and I spat it out again. I felt something warm surround me and panicked again; what happened? What was it? Then I remembered the slice I had in my arm and that it would have bled. Then I started panicking again when I remembered that I was in the ocean with a bloody arm, probably surrounded by great whites by now.

I almost took in another breath of water when I remembered that I was in the ocean -- again. I tried to calm myself down, make myself stop moving, stop thrashing, stop losing the blood in my arm. This water was cold and it was salty; it had to stop bleeding soon. Wasn't that right? Cold water slowed your blood, so the blood coming from my arm would be slowed and eventually it would stop bleeding altogether. I tried to think of which way was up and which was down. If I hadn't been blind I could have opened my eyes and looked for light of the moon in the endless darkness of the sea.

Water rippled by me and my body stiffened, instinctively ready for a fight. If I was going to die, I wasn't going to die a coward. The water rippled again, this time right next to me. It was a shark, I could tell by the feeling it left in the water behind it and the length and size of it. I tried to stop myself from thinking of hyperventilating at the moment because there was no oxygen available for me right then. The ripple came again, this time behind me. I twisted round quickly as if I would see it and could hurt it.

I had to calm myself down somehow, stop thinking about the shark, about what it would do to me if it got hold of my leg or my waist, or my bleeding arm. I tried to calm myself down, and I concentrated hard. I heard the shark behind me, coming closer. It was about ten feet away now and I could feel it coming closer and closer, always circling me, coming at me slowly to create suspense.

I heard my heart for the first time since I fell, beating in my ears, pounding in my temples, slamming against my skull. It was going so fast, like the beating of a small bird's wings beating furiously to gain altitude while being chased by a dog or a cat or some kind of animal predator.

_Okay, calm down, James. I know it's hard, but try to calm down. Please, just pay attention to what assets you have on your side, rather than what is against you or what will happen to you if you die,_ I told myself, thinking a lot more calmly than I was. _You're not going to die, so don't even think like that. Please, pay attention._

Silence. For a moment I was at complete peace, hearing nothing, not even the ripple of the shark's fin beside me. _Think. What should I do to get out of this situation?_ I asked myself. What assets did I have on my side?

The morphing ability. I could go anywhere, do anything I wanted to, even fly, as long as I had that ability.

The shark was close. I could feel my breath leaving me; in fact, it had already left. I was doing all I could just to stay conscious. It was close enough so that I could reach out, touch it, and absorb its DNA before it could swim one more tail-length.

I took a deep breath -- so to speak -- and reached out toward a recent ripple in the water right beside me. I hadn't extended my arm very far before I was touching its smooth, rock hard skin. I felt its gills pass beneath my fingers and concentrated hard, picturing what looked like a shark to me in my head. I concentrated on the razor-sharp teeth, three rows of about a hundred of them all packed into one mouth, all crooked, trying to stay into place. I felt the shark slow, felt it stop swimming and start sinking slowly under my hand. Sharks didn't have swim bladders, so unless they were in a current, they couldn't stop swimming without sinking.

I was calm now, despite the shark that was sinking beneath me, falling into the depths. I had to get out of there, fast, before it was taken out of its trance and came after me again.

I started to concentrate on the shark again, thinking about how it moved in the water, thinking about the ripples it made about my body when it circled me, thinking of the way the great white shark cleverly hunted. They would bite something off of their prey, like a hand or a fin or a tail, and they would wait underneath the water, underneath their victim, until they bled to death; then they would eat them. The victim always had a lot of time to think things over, along with a chance to get away that way, or they would just die a long, painful death. Which depressed me.

I looked around -- and my eyes didn't burn. I took in a deep breath and breathed the oxygen stored in the water around me. I let out carbon dioxide, which soon turned into carbonates and bicarbonates, which added alkalinity to the water to prevent it from becoming acidic.

**(A/N: Sorry, I had to add some science into there. I have to keep that aquatic ecology in my brain somehow.)**

(Jamaia,) a voice said suddenly in my head. I stopped and looked around cautiously, but saw nothing. (Jamaia, look at me.) As if on cue, the water in front of me blurred for a moment, but then cleared to show me an alien creature -- one that I hadn't seen before (pun not intended).

It had no mouth, and slits to replace an actual nose. The slits seemed to open and close like gills, sucking in the air from the water and letting it out again. It had human-like features, like the eyes and the head shape, and the body shape too. The eyes were almond-shaped and had a dark blue colour to them. The woman had long, blue-green hair, flowing from her scalp, in front of her face and fanning out all around her. I couldn't see how long it was because it blended so well with the water around us. Her body was covered in shimmering blue-green scales. Her toes were webbed together by a tissue between each one. On her back were enormous wings about fifteen to twenty feet long, but they were like the skin of a dolphin or a whale: smooth and wet, but not slimy. They were more like dragon's wings, but without scales and they were a variety of neon blues and greens to blend in with the sky and the water surrounding us. But they did stick out a little more than the other parts of her did.

My eyes widened when I saw her and I would have jumped back, but sharks can't swim backwards.

(Who are you?) I demanded, instantly putting on my "You're dead meat if you think you're gonna intimidate me" voice. (What are you?)

(Jamaia, there is no need to be so hostile with me,) she replied calmly. I liked the sound of her voice; it was an admirable ringing voice that seemed to sing whenever she spoke. (We are of the same, dear oria.)

(What? What are you talking about? What the heck is "oria"?)

(It is "child" in the Ancient Language of Goreal,) she replied.

(Uh-huh,) I said, sounding a lot less defensive and more incredulous than I ever had before. (And Alvin, Simon and Theodore are living in my cupboards. Look lady, I don't know what this "Ancient Language of Goreal" crap is, but I'm not planning on finding out. I have to get home or my mom will have a total cow. Excuse me.) I started swimming past her, moving my powerful tail to propel myself, to steer me in the right direction. (Do you know where the beach is, by any chance?) I demanded, swimming toward the light reflecting off of the water above me to see if I could look around, despite my poor vision.

(I apologize, Jamaia, but what is a… beach, did you call it?)

(Yes, a beach.) I sounded so annoyed now. Why did she keep calling me Jamaia? Maybe there was a mistaken identity case here. (It's something with sand and, you know, people who swim? It's a noun in a language I like to call the "Ancient Language of English",) I said sarcastically.

(Oh, a beach. No, I do not believe that I have seen one lately. I have come to speak to you, not to swim at such a public place.) She was worse than my dad with sarcasm! (Please, let me explain, Jamaia.)

(Yeah, okay, but I have a two hour limit, no more, maybe less. And quit calling me Jamaia, it's Jamie or James. I don't know a Jamaia.) My heart pained me at the thought of my nicknames; Dad had thought of them. Good thing sharks aren't the crying type. (And tell me how you knew I was going to be here,) I added skeptically.

(I know all about you,) she replied bluntly. (For the past two weeks of your time that I have been here, I have been watching you.) Stalker alert! (I saw you come here from the forest, in search of refuge from your own guilt. I felt your pain, Jamaia.) So much for the nicknames. (I feel it now: remorse for what you have done. But I do not understand; why are you so regretful? I did not witness you do anything that would make you be worthy of guilt. You tried to save him. You had nothing to do with his death, I promise you, dear oria.) Except that I wasn't able to save him. If I had been, he would be alive and I wouldn't be here. (But if you had managed to save him, you would be dead and he would be suffering from a loss greater than any: the loss of a child taken from a parent.)

(What are you going on about now?) I demanded, my voice rock-solid once again. (Look, are you going to tell me something or are you just going to continue telling what I _didn't_ do wrong? Hurry up with it, won't you?) Crap. Had my feelings been that strong, that someone else with a mental way of communicating could feel it too? I tried to hold down my annoyance at being intruded upon by someone -- or some_thing_ -- that I didn't even know.

(You have done nothing, I assure you.)

(Will you just tell me what you are?) I demanded angrily. It was my defense against myself and other people, so none of us had to see my real emotions. It worked all the time.

Silence. Then, after about ten seconds, she said, (Gotika. I am a Gotika, sent here from my home planet to tell you, Jamaia, that it is time. It is time we, the Gotika, joined the fight against the Yeerks. You are our leader, the one sent to Earth to do the Master, your father's bidding to prepare the human race for the war that is completely inevitable. You are the leader of our strike force, Mistress Jamaia.)


	7. I am Confused

**Chapter 6**

**I am Confused**

(Okay, inevitable war I'm familiar with. Me being the leader of some freakish strike force? Not so much. Fill me in, why don't you, oh Wise One? The grasshopper is ready to learn,) I said, and I would have rolled my eyes if I could have.

Not even bothering to question my twisted sense of humor, she continued explaining. (When you were born, your father and mother named you Jamaia, after the great leader, Jamaia Hode. They had great wishes for you. But they knew, at the same time, that to be a great leader you would need to grow up somewhere else, to get more experience. They went to a Sirve, which is a "fortune teller" in your language, and he saw that you were destined to play a large part in rescuing this planet from its destruction in the future -- which is today. Which is now.

(They decided to bring you here, so you would have a chance to learn their customs, befriend them. They gave you the body of a human girl and gave you the name Jasmine so you could fit into the human world.) She paused as if to let me say something, but I refused; I wanted to hear her side of the story. (They agreed to send you here, to Earth, so that you could study the species that dominates the planet and then create a strike force out of them to fight Visser Three and his army of Yeerks. We would come and help you when we felt you were ready, when your parents felt the connection between you and them strengthen, when they knew that you had realized who you were and what you are here for.)

I stared at her, completely confused. Was she telling me that I was meant to lead some kind of strike force into battle, with a mix of Gotika and Andalite Bandits and humans? I almost laughed at the concept. So really, I was just another Joan of Arc... only not.

(Huh,) I said incredulously, (So, you're telling me that I have to find my full potential before we can actually fight these things? Funny, because I've been fighting them for awhile. Look, I don't know if I am what you say I am, but I already know what I'm here for, and that's to fight the Yeerks -- alongside the Andalite Bandits. You can't honestly expect me to believe someone -- or something -- came all the way to my cozy little home called Earth, just to me to tell me that I have more potential than I already know I have, fighting Yeerks and kicking their butts every single time? I don't know about you, but I'd say that's more potential than most humans my age have. Besides, why should I trust you? For all I know you could be Visser Three himself coming to try and recruit me into being a Controller. Now, if you don't mind, leave me alone.)

I continued swimming, but at that moment I felt an incredible pain in my skull, as I had felt just before I transformed back into a human when I was an owl and fell into the sea. I cried out in shock and pain and would have held my head to ease it by putting pressure on it, but sharks' bodies don't work like that, unfortunately.

(You will not refer to me as the infamous Visser Three!) the Gotika yelled at me in a strong female voice in my head, and I could feel the incredible fury emanating from her body and mind. (I take great insult at that, oria! I am not a Yeerk and I am _definitely not _that foul creature!) She stopped when she realized she was putting me in pain and I could barely hear her because I was too busy concentrating on staying a shark, but then she calmed her voice and the pain in my skull began to disappear.

OK, now I was really mad! Before, I was just frustrated because she had been telling me I was something I didn't even know existed, let alone telling me I wasn't even human, and now she expected me to just go along with it?! _Oh yeah, that's a great idea! Let's see what happens when we improvise in this little war going on between the planet and an alien race come to kill us all! Visser Three is a great guy, I'm sure he'll let me reschedule if it doesn't work out with my personal life. _Sorry, but no. Sarcasm: the source of my vocabulary.

(I apologize,) she said, more calmly now and slightly ashamed, (I lose my temper many times per day; it is a trademark characteristic for our species.) That explained a lot. (This may come as a surprise to you, as well as completely sudden, and I understand why you wouldn't trust me. But believe me when I say this: Gotika are not meant to be morphed. In fact, there is no Andalite, or anything else with the morphing technology, that may mimic our form unless it is another Gotika who has provided another of his or her same species with his or her DNA. That is why I cannot be Visser Three. I forgot that you did not know that fact, oria.)

(It's fine,) I lied, (Just let me know next time you want to tear me apart limb by limb, alright?)

She chuckled, though I had a feeling she didn't really understand what I meant. Typical alien. (Yes, I will warn you. Now, I must leave you. You will learn the rest as your life continues.)

(Uh… thanks, I guess,) I said awkwardly. _Goodbye, Dr. Spock, _I thought mockingly. _Before you go, do you have any more life lessons you wanna teach me? _I started swimming away, but -- as if hearing my thoughts -- she stopped me before I got ten feet away.

(Oria. Just let me give you two more pieces of advice: 1) Fight with them, live with them, and die for them. That is your duty. And 2) Heed the voice of you mother, Jamaia.)

Something clicked in my mind, like a memory or something, and I felt a flood of momentary emotion come into my heart, but it was gone almost before I could acknowledge it. Then she was gone, her shape fading away into the endless water, and leaving me to ponder curiously about what she had told me. Fight and live for who exactly? And who was I supposed to die for? The Gotika? The Andalite Bandits? My parents? The suggestion made my heart speed up in fear as I remembered that I hadn't died for my father, and if that was what she meant, I should have been quicker with Hack. I moved on to the next question before I could give myself the time to become emo and masochistic, and pushed the questionable death out of my mind. My mother. What did she mean by "my mother"? My mom hadn't given me advice in who-knows-how-long, and I was supposed to "heed her voice"? Great. Mystery solved. Nobody panic.

I heard a noise behind me, amplified because of the water surrounding me, and turned abruptly, but saw nothing but a white flash. Then everything went black.


	8. Rachel

_Lots_ of foreshadowing. Pay attention peeps! Please review, and give me constructive criticism on all of my chapters please! I like to know how I'm doing or whether I need to improve on some stuff. Please let me know. It's funny, because Rachel is my favorite character, yet my character doesn't like her and she doesn't like my character. Talk about irony... or not. Oh well, I like my plot and my story so far, but ruin my dreams if you must. Nothing too harsh please, just stuff that will improve my writing.

Thanks so much for reading my fanfic! I hope you like it!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANIMORPHS!! And neither do you (unless you do, then I'm lying).

**Chapter 7**

**Rachel**

"Jordan, I need the TV," I said, taking the remote from beside her where she sat on the couch.

"Rachel," she whined. "Come on, my show is almost over." I looked at the TV and saw that her show had, in fact, just ended and the credits climbing up the screen with ease.

"It's already over," I informed her. She looked at the TV and frowned, disappointed in her friend.

"There's another episode on right after," she said defiantly. I grimaced at her and changed it anyway.

"Well that's too bad -- I want to watch the news," I said.

"Rachel! No!" she cried, and lunged for the remote as if trying to pull it out of the clutches of a Yeerk and her life depended on getting it back. I pulled it out her reach and clicked on it once more to switch to CNN.

Jake had called earlier and told me there was a breaking news warning just a few minutes ago on this channel, and it was about an owl falling from the sky and changing into a human. I thought it was worth checking out, whether it was real or not. Jordan, on the other hand, didn't even know why I was changing it.

"Look, Jordan," I said to her in a threatening voice, "Just go away, okay? Either that or watch this story with me; it's supposed to be something interesting, now just calm down and don't have a fit."

"Fine. What is it then?" she demanded snobbishly.

"None of your business if you're going to talk to me like that, now go see Mom -- she wants you in the kitchen."

"No she doesn't."

"Then don't go."

"Fine then. I won't."

"Fine, brat. Stay here and I'll torment you about how freakishly big your nose is." I reached out and grabbed her nose between my index and middle fingers and pulled, putting my thumb between my fingers and looked at it with a bewildered expression on my face.

"Hey!" she cried angrily, and reached for the remote again, but I pulled it out of her reach -- again.

"Wow," I said, almost in awe. "Did you know that the bigger your nose is, the bigger your ego is? Your ego must be huge because I don't see this nose shrinking."

"Mom! Rachel's saying I have a big ego and nose!" she called into the kitchen to Mom. I held back a burst of laughter and my face twisted into an ugly mass because of it.

"Well, what if you do?" Mom said to Jordan jokingly from the kitchen. "Honey, just let her watch the news. Your show is mostly reruns anyway, so you can watch that episode any time it comes on."

"Mom! Do you know how many episodes of that show there are?" she demanded, incredulous of Mom's reasonable words.

"Well you can watch other episodes so you'll be all caught up by the time you see that particular episode again Besides, Rachel's choice is educational."

"Yeah," I agreed mock-snobbishly.

"Mom!" Jordan cried in frustration, ignoring me.

"Jordan." Mom sounded exhasperated and annoyed.

"What?!"

"Don't argue."

Jordan made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a snort and a growl, and jumped up to go to her room, slamming the door in frustration.

_Kids, _I thought mockingly to myself. _You can't live with 'em, and you can't live without 'em. Well, okay you can live without them. _At least she was gone and I could watch TV in privacy. Speaking of which, where was my youngest sister?

"Mom?" I asked, going into the kitchen as the woman on CNN chattered about something that was completely uninteresting to me. "Where's Sarah?"

"She's in bed," she replied casually, making what looked like pizza dough. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only seven o'clock. She must have seen me looking at the clock because she added, "I know it's early, even for her, but she was getting cranky and she hadn't had a nap since Friday, so I put her to bed. Why?"

"Just wondering," I responded. I was going back to the living room when I heard the woman start talking about the mysterious falling owl.

"…And last night at around twelve thirty, a man saw something interesting at the very edge of the cliffs right over the ocean, which is surprising, even to us who have seen the weirdest things. And now to James Thirdley, with the whole story." The woman smiled just before the screen switched so that I saw a man in his late thirties with grey hair on top of his head. He had brown eyes and a wide, fake smile that seemed to scream "Look at me! I'm a newscaster! I'm famous!" It was really creepy.

"Thanks Janet. And now for the full story. There was a man at the beach last night, apparently with a video camera, and he got this footage for us at twelve thirty last night at the edge of a cliff."

With that, James shut up and let me, and the rest of the audience, watch a clip of an indistinct owl flying out over the ocean, hovering for a few moments and flying back to the cliff face. Those actions alone were already weird things for an owl to do. First of all, they didn't hunt for fish, and second, they hardly ever hovered in the air. Usually they were perched on a tree in a forest -- you barely ever saw them over the ocean, or even near the ocean. They just weren't interested. But it didn't make it all the way back to the cliff face before it stopped flying and started writhing in the air and started screeching loudly, as if in pain. I heard the man behind the camera start crying out in agony, and he dropped the camera.

"What the heck is that?!" he yelled, and I saw him go out in front of the camera after dropping it, holding his head in pain and fear as he stumbled around. I saw his feet stumbling around "Ah! What the heck! Somebody get this out of my head!"

He moved out of the way and the camera showed the owl growing, still twisting and turning, as if trying to escape the pain, and it was still growing. It slowly lost its feathers and it grew hair, hands, feet, lost its wings. It was turning into a human.

As it fell, its shape was silhouetted against the moonlight, and I could see that it was a girl. She had long hair that flew out above her as she tumbled, screaming and reaching aimlessly around her, her arms flailing in all different directions. Her shape escaped the moonlight, but I could still see a feminine figure wearing something skintight, falling straight into the ocean, narrowly dodging the rocks below and splashing into the ocean. She didn't come up.

The man holding the camera had fallen, but now got up, now that the pain in his head -- probably screaming from the morphed owl -- and stared into the distance. Then he turned toward the camera, having seen the girl falling into the sea, her arms flailing around her aimlessly.

I wondered if she was dead, if she hadn't missed the rocks, if it only looked like she had. I wanted to know who that had been, who it had been who fell into the ocean. Maybe she knew something about the cube -- the morphing cube -- and all the weird things that had been happening lately. Like Ax having his weird freak-out yesterday and no one -- not even him -- knowing what it was from. Maybe she knew about the ally the Animorphs had, who we called the Mystery Hunter. What if she _was _the Mystery Hunter? I stared at the TV for a few moments later until James Thirdley came back on, interrupting my wandering thoughts.

"What was _that?" _I heard my mom wonder from behind me. At least I knew she wasn't a Controller, by her tone; it was complete horror and awe. She had come in from the kitchen and was standing right behind me now.

"I don't know," I said, my voice dazed, my mind in a haze. I was being completely truthful too -- I had no idea what was going on or who it was that had fallen into the ocean.

"Was that a human? A - a girl?" Mom wondered uselessly, knowing she wasn't going to get an answer. I didn't bother replying: I knew they were rhetorical questions.

"A man was found this morning in a car near" -- She named a place near Cassie's house and I snapped back to attention -- "He had a bullet through his chest, right through his heart, and experts say that it was an instant death for him. The man was identified as Robert Peters, father of Jasmine and Dana Peters and husband of Lilith." Remember that I'm using fake last names, just in case. "His daughter, Jasmine, was reported missing last night by her mother, Lilith, and the police have come to the most likely conclusion that they have, which is that Jasmine -- also known as Jamie or James -- was involved in the murder somehow. She was last seen wearing a black zip-up hoodie and a black tanktop underneath, with a skull design on the front and 'My Chemical Romance' plastered on it. On her legs, she had black 3/4 inch leggings and suspenders hanging down by her sides; she had black sneakers and white socks underneath her shoes. She has long brown hair that is usually tied up in a ponytail and dark blue eyes, almost black, says her mother. She is 5'4" and fifteen years old..."

That really caught my attention. Jamie killing her own father? Impossible. She looked up to him, she loved him; he was her hero. She wouldn't have killed him -- she couldn't have.

"Jamie?" Mom wondered aloud, evidently shocked. "Did that woman just say that there's a possibility that _Jamie_ killed her _dad_?"

"Yup," I replied. "But she didn't, I know she didn't. Just because she's their only lead doesn't mean she did it." I didn't like her, but I was willing to give her that much. She wasn't a murderer. I, personally, assumed it was her friend, Hack. He was the only person I knew who had the firepower, the personality, and the access to do something like that. He had access to her dad because he was her friend, wasn't that the way it worked? He also had access to guns, his dad being a hunter. And his personality? Needless to say, he was incredibly violent. He should be their prime suspect, not her.

Hack was a guy who had beaten up a friend of mine, Tobias. Tobias wasn't the toughest guy around and he was bullied a lot because he was new to our school, but no one bullied him as much as Henry, or "Hack" did. I guess he wanted respect because of his name, which he hated, but other people had different opinions of it. His friends were the only ones who really respected him, and that was because they were afraid of him. But Jamie… I had always thought she was tougher than that, to give in to his fake kindness to her. He only wanted to be friends with her because he had thought she was pretty and "not as preppy as Rachel". I told her not to be friends with him; I warned her about what he might do to her. All he wanted was more people to bully, more people to push around. But apparently she liked him. She had always had a thing for tough guys, but I never knew it was for jerks like that. For a while she went out with him and they seemed happy together, but then I saw them fighting one day in the abandoned construction site that had changed my life and the lives of my friends. Then he hit her, but she hit back. She was never one to just topple over after one blow. He hated her, and she hated him, so I wondered why they were still friends after so long. Did I mention that he was the reason for her car accident two years ago?

I was mad at him. He pushed her around, like a stiff ragdoll, but she didn't seem to care, as long as she could fight back, as long as she could save her own life. She was tough, for which I had always admired and envied her for. But the fact that she stayed with Hack so long, even after he hit her and caused her to go blind, I wondered why she would stay with him. Did she love him? Did she still have that thing for tough jerks? _Maybe if I made her meet Marco, she would change her mind_, I considered mockingly.

By going with him, Jamie lost me, my trust, and all the stuff that came with me, like Cassie and all the stuff she offered as the most amazing friend anyone could have.

I went to the phone upstairs to the phone and called Jake.

"Hello?" he greeted when he answered the phone.

"Jake, it's Rachel. Did you see that episode of Star Trek tonight?"

"Yeah," he replied, "It was pretty cool, but I thought it was supposed to be a rerun." I knew what he meant by that: it was something new that we hadn't ever seen before.

"Yeah, same. Hey, the mall's still open, right?" I offered. That, of course, meant Cassie's farm and/or forest behind her house. It was safer than going anywhere else with an Andalite and a thought-speaking hawk.

"Tomorrow," he answered. "We'll meet tomorrow to go to the mall. I'll call the others to let them know."

"Okay, I'm tired anyway. I'll see you then. 'Bye." We both hung up at the same time.


	9. The Meeting

I don't own Jake, Cassie, Marco, Rachel, Tobias, Ax, or any other Animorph there may be that I don't know about. I don't own Criminal Minds either. :P (Really, I don't.)

**Chapter 8**

**The Meeting**

I was lying on something relatively damp and soft, like a pillow, but it was wet and it smelled fresh, unlike a pillow from a stuffy house covered in frills and all that other stuff to make it pretty. My body was resting on something hard and all of my joints ached from the lumpy surface. I rolled over and groaned in my uncomfortable position. My shoulder ached when I turned onto it and I groaned again. My head hurt as well, but thanks to the soft material under it, I was relatively comfortable, aside from the throbbing in my temples.

I tried to stand up, tried to gather my surroundings, my bearings. Where was I? Had Hack taken me there? What was I doing there? One of the many problems with being blind is that you don't know if anyone is around or where you are unless something moved.

I was about call out "hello" just in case someone was there, but decided against it. If someone was there, I didn't know whether they were on my side or not, whether they wanted to kill me or not. I stood up and took a step forward, but wasn't expecting to smack right into a wall at the first step. I fell back again, bouncing off the wall and grumbling angrily to myself. Another downside to being blind: not being able to seewalls right in front of you.

"Stupid wall, I hate this place. What kind of room is this?" I grumbled angrily to myself getting up again. Then I remembered the texture of the wall I had banged into -- it wasn't regular. It was rough and felt like it dug into my skin just as quickly as I had bumped into it.

I got up and felt the wall which I had slammed into, and soon found out that it wasn't a wall at all: it was a tree in a forest, the one outide the city. Instantly my guard went up and I tried to concentrate to see if I could hear anything or anyone breathing around me. I could hear something up in a tree beside me like a rustling and went over to it. Had I been kidnapped and sent into the forest to be hunted by freaks with arrows who just liked to see people suffer? Yes, I saw that episode of Criminal Minds. I love crazy madmen -- just not when they're chasing me.

"Hello?" I called, despite my fear of being hunted. I heard something up in the trees and realized it was only a bird singing, then flying away at the sound of my voice. "Hello?" I called again. There was no answer. Annoyed now, unable to know where I was, unable to find out except by the trees, I took a step forward -- and imagined myself sinking into quicksand, until I realized that the forest in my city's backyard didn't have quicksand. In fact, it was rare that forests would even have quicksand.

I took another step, feeling my way around the trees with my hands, always prepared for the worst, hoping for the best. I held up my guard, careful for anything that might be dangerous to my well-being. I had no idea where I was going or how I would get there without tripping or breaking my leg or something. I could easily step into a gopher hole and fall and twist my ankle, most likely breaking it. The worst part was that I didn't know if it was night, morning or noon. I hated that. It smelled of dew and the air was heavy around me -- _afternoon?_ I guessed.

I heard something move to my right and froze. I felt around with my hand and touched it. It was soft, fuzzy even, and slim. I had seen something like it before, when I wasn't blind. Hack had been showing off for me when we were friends and he had shown me -- with his shirt off -- that he could flex his chest muscles without his hands. He was on the football team, so he was a total jock and pretty muscular. It was a bare chest -- a guy's chest -- with fur, but it was short and rough. I knew what it was as soon as I touched it.

I jumped back, fury and terror striking me suddenly, like a spear entering my soul. I bumped into a tree and held onto it behind me with my hands so that I couldn't fall down or lose my spot.

"Andalite," I snapped, fury in my voice, then I reconsidered my tone. There was a noise whizzing toward me, but my reactions were slow since I hadn't had a chance to completely wake up yet, and I didn't move until the fierce tail was right at my throat.


	10. The Truth

This chapter took longer than I thought it was going to take, mainly because of the mental roadblock I was temporarily having. It's weird: I haven't had writer's block in such a long time, and now here I am, not being able to think of anything to write. That might be why this chapter kind of sucked -- in my opinion.

Sorry this story is taking so long, by the way, but I have a little habit of always drawing things out so I can organize them better because, somehow, I feel kind of like I've lost control of the story, but at the same time not. Don't tell that doesn't make sense because I don't want to have to explain it.

I don't own Animorphs or its characters or anything else to do with Animorphs that I might not know about. See? There's your proof that I don't own it. There are things that I don't know about that have to do with Animorphs. Anyway, just tell me to shut up anytime now.

XXX

**Chapter 9**

**The Truth**

(Yeerk.) The word echoed in my head and I scowled, trying to push the cruel tail away from me. (What are you doing here? Explain yourself!)

"Sorry, that came out wrong," I grunted as his tail pushed more violently against my neck. "I meant to say, 'I know you're an Andalite, but I'm not a Controller so don't chop me up into little pieces.' Alright? Now leave me alone."

(Do you truly expect me to believe that, Yeerk?) it spat inside my head. (I am an Andalite -- you should know that we are not easily deceived.)

"Truthfully?" I asked, astonished that he would even consider me to be telling the truth. I knew I wouldn't trust me if I was in his place, so I didn't expect him to. "No. I'd like you to believe me, but no, I don't expect you to. I know that Andalites are a lot smarter than you lead us meek humans to believe. Does that sound like something a Yeerk would say?"

(No, but that could be the point,) he replied. (The whole point of telling me that would have been to make me think you were completely human, but by telling me that, you have jeopardized your chance at my trust. Especially when you asked if that sounded like something a Controller would say,) he pointed out. (And humans are not always so humble as to call themselves 'meek'. If you were not an arrogant Yeerk, you would know that.)

"Ouch. Andy, be a little more sensitive to the human race. Besides, what Yeerk would want to take me over? I'm blind. Even if they did, they would want to get out right away because they wouldn't be able to see anything -- what good would I do them?" I asked, putting a fair amount of persuasion into my voice. "Believe me, I've been a Controller before -- the Yeerk who was in my head hated it. He was always complaining about how horrible it was to be in my head because the only things he could see was the stuff I imagined, or my memories. I can't help but agree with him on that."

(Just tell me why you were at the beach and who you are. Give me information if you want me to trust you,) the Andalite snapped, pushing his tail blade against my throat further. I backed away a little from the pain.

I sighed, annoyed once more. "I was on the beach last night or this morning, or whenever you found me, because I was just… taking a swim. By accident. I mean, I was flying and I slipped -- or something. I don't remember exactly what happened. Look, just don't slit my throat open. I have a lot to live for right now and I have no time in my schedule for death. Sorry, but I'll have to pass. I have things to do; Yeerks to fight, Andalites to fight alongside with. You know, the usual." His tail loosened against my neck to let me breathe and move, and I felt something like shock emanating from him.

Another voice, different from the first one, erupted inside my head this time. It was familiar, but I couldn't place it. It wasn't an Andalite as far as I could tell. A human in morph? No way. That would mean... (Wait, did you say "Andalites to fight with"?)

"Something like that, yeah. Why?" I asked, but I knew the answer now that he had spoken: these were two of the infamous Andalite Bandits, whom I admired so much.

(Which Andalites exactly?) he asked cautiously. I just barely stopped a smirk from creeping up into my face and completely giving me away.

"Ever heard of the Andalite Bandits?" I asked. Neither he nor Andy answered. "How about the incredible woman who fights alongside them? I hear she's pretty famous these days. The AB's are pretty intent on discovering who she is, aren't they?… But they aren't the only ones. They all want her on their side. The Yeerks already know who she is, but that's only because she's been a Controller before -- twice. But that doesn't mean that she'll go with them does it? Actually, it makes the chances of her becoming a Controller voluntarily pretty much a stupid concept."

(It's you,) the human breathed, (You're the Mystery Hunter.) The pressure on my neck seemed to almost disappear as he said it.

"Oh, please," I said, making myself sound flattered by the name. "I don't deserve such an amazing title." I put my hand on my face mockingly and plastered a sweet smile on to hide the pain that I felt crawling all over my skin. I shouldn't have been so reckless the night before. It wasn't their time to know -- no, I couldn't let them know. Ever. It was too dangerous for them to know right now. They couldn't know who I was, what I was doing, what had happened to my father. The less they knew the better. Silence was good here. I took my hand from my face and lost the tacky smile. "Well, I guess it's time for me to go," I said when I heard familiar steps coming toward our hiding spot. It was Cassie, I could tell by the way she walked smoothly through the forest toward us. If she saw me I was dead; she would recognize me instantly.

I concentrated and started changing after I pushed Ax's tail away from me. I shrunk and became feathery and brown with sharp, round, brown eyes and a razor-sharp beak made for tearing into my prey. My wingspan was roughly seven feet and I was about one meter long. I had dark brown plumage and a golden head and neck. I was a powerful, deadly bird, able to swoop down on any unsuspecting victim and plunge my sharp talons into their back.

I saw them now, the Andalite and the hawk. A beautiful red-tailed hawk to my left and an elegant Andalite to my right. ('Bye guys. Call me if you need anything. I would wink, but I don't know if eagles can do that.) As I took off, I saw Tobias flinch a little -- probably because Golden Eagles ate his kind. But, lucky for him, I wasn't hungry at the moment.

I flew steadily, quickly through the trees, rising up into the sun, which blinded me for a moment after so much darkness. When my vision cleared and I saw it clearly, once out of the surrounding foliage, I felt a sense of freedom that I hadn't had for a long time. I relished in the bird's ignorance, having no recognition of the dark red car below, having no sense of what it even was, having no sense of time except that it was midday. I looked down at the car with a spattering of blood against the windshield, but saw no body. Oh no; someone had found the body. I hadn't thought that anything in news could spread so quickly. He had only been dead one night.


	11. The Truth: Part II

**Beware: friend sap.**

**I don't own Animorphs... just a reminder.**

**XXX**

**Chapter 10**

**The Truth**

**(Part II)**

We were at the mall the next day. I had a strawberry milkshake in hand, Cassie and Jake were sharing some sort of double meal thing from some disgusting fast food store ("Aw, how romantic," Marco teased, making Cassie blush immensely. Jake threw a fry at him in return), Tobias was sitting beside me as he ate a burger (Marco teased him about that too, the burger being meat and all), and Ax was munching on cinnamon buns near our table, clearly trying hard to control himself over their delicious taste.

We were talking about what happened yesterday and what Tobias and Ax had found on the beach. They told us about their little conversation with the Mystery Hunter and how she had left right before Cassie appeared from the trees to say her daily "hello" to the two of them. All she had seen was a golden eagle flying toward the treetops and disappearing out of the forest into the light of the sun.

"Okay, so all we know is that we've found the Mystery Hunter on the beach and that it's a girl and a human," said Marco, and judging by his cynical tone, I knew what was coming next: he was going to try to add all of this together, only to come up with some depressing solution. "We don't know her name, where she lives, or anything else about her. Someone else got any info on her?"

"We know that she fights for the same cause we do," Jake put in, "which is good. If she wasn't on our side we'd be doing a heck of a lot more time fighting her than fighting you-know-who. And she's a strong ally, so just imagine what it would be like if she was our enemy."

Everyone went silent as we all contemplated this idea. He was right: it was better to have her as an ally than an enemy, and she was strong. I wasn't sure that even--

"Rachel could take her," Marco remarked in a teasing voice, "We all know that Xena can take down anyone."

I laughed, almost cynically. "I'm not so sure. I mean, I'm reckless and strong -- may I add -- but she's a smart fighter. She's strong too, maybe stronger than me. Than all of us." I suddenly realized what I had said and that all of my friends were staring at me as if they had discovered I was taking steroids. "Um… what I mean is… uh…" I regained my composure over a little more time. "I can totally kick her butt! We all could. After all, she's only one person and we're five humans plus an Andalite." Phew, that was close.

"I must admit, that was good save," Tobias complimented me.

"Yeah. Who would have thought that _Rachel, _of all people, could have composure to gain back," Marco joked. I rolled my eyes.

"Says the one who freaks out every time we do anything remotely close to dangerous," I retorted, smirking. He glowered at me and I could almost feel the daggers digging under my skin.

"Can we get back on topic please?" Jake sighed, annoyed.

"Yeah, fine," Marco grumbled.

"Do we know what she looks like?" Cassie asked Tobias and Ax. "How old she is maybe?"

"She's around our age," Tobias confirmed, setting down his pop onto the table, "Maybe about a year or so older. I'd say she's fifteen or sixteen, judging by her face. She's short for her age though."

"She has dark hair -- I think that is the right description," Ax added, filling in the gaps. He shrugged, unsure.

"Yeah," Tobias agreed. "She has dark hair that goes down to the small of her back. And she was wearing a black skin-tight jumpsuit... thing. Whatever it's called. Anyway, I assume she must have been in morph at one point. She wouldn't tell us her name, though."

"She also has dark blue eyes, but she does not use them," Ax said, taking a huge bite out of Jake's burger, making him jump because the movement was unexpected. He gave Ax a patient look, but it had a considerable amount of annoyance in it.

"Why?" I demanded without thinking. "Is she so stupid that she doesn't think to look around once in awhile?" I would hate it if my new idol was suddenly labeled an idiot. I pictured a person with long brown hair and dark blue eyes in my head, who was a girl, totally stylish of course, and completely beautiful -- but she was wearing a dunce cap on her head with bold letters that read "DUNCE" on it down the center.

"Of course not," Ax countered, sounding rather insulted. "Not. Nnn-aw-tuh Not-uh."

"Uh… right," I said, sounding more weirded out than I actually was.

"Maybe she's just lazy," Marco suggested, "I mean, I'm too lazy to write with my elbows sometimes. Maybe she's just too lazy to look around with her eyes."

"What else is she going to look around with?" I demanded, perplexed. "And who writes with their elbows anyway, loser?"

"I do!"

"She cannot see. What was the term she used, Tobias?" Ax said, continuing on the original topic.

"Blind." Tobias turned to the rest of us now. "She's blind."

"Okay," Jake began, "So she's short, has dark hair, dark blue eyes. she's our age, which means she might go to our school, and she's blind. Well, now we know what to look for. Finding a blind girl in our school shouldn't be too hard; she's gotta stick out pretty easily."

"Wait," Cassie cut in. "That description sounds familiar. What was she like, personality-wise?"

"Uh, well, she was aggressive, defensive, probably angry. I would completely understand if she was. I mean, it makes sense that if she couldn't see anything she would be angry. I would be too," Tobias said.

"Yeah, but that's because you have raptor vision all the time. You probably feel blind when you're a human anyway," Marco pointed out, stating the obvious. Some guy walked by when he said that statement and stared at us like we were weird… which I couldn't agree with more. We ignored him anyway. If he didn't suddenly pull out a dracon beam and start shooting at us, he was no concern of ours.

Cassie and I stared at each other in shock. We knew that description all too well. Aggressive, defensive, angry. She used to be nice. She used to love life, but ever since she was friends with John, Hack and Keiichi, she had stopped. She had changed, completely. And she was the only blind girl in our school.

"Oh, man it's Jamie!" Marco exclaimed before anything could escape either Cassie or me. We both looked at him in astonishment. He knew her?

"What?" I practically screamed, angry now. _How could _Jamie_ be my idol?! _was my biggest concern. But it explained why she was so stressed lately, as well as how she had become more confident. This whole war was a character builder, if nothing else. But how had she gotten so strong, and so agile and so good at fighting? And how could she be the _Mystery Hunter_?! It was right under our noses the entire time! Every time I ignored her in school, every time I saw her, I was looking into the face of the strongest, smartest fighter I had ever met (aside from Ax). If I wasn't ignoring the Mystery Hunter, I was staring into the face of the Mystery Hunter. She was skilled and amazing, smooth and swift with every movement! How could I not have seen that? "I feel sick," I announced. I stood abruptly and ran down the long hall, turned down another hall, and ran into the girl's bathroom, past all the people in line to sit in one of the stalls, almost hyperventilating. I _hated _Jamie! I couldn't stand her! And here I was, saying she was my fighting _idol_ this entire time! How could I have been so stupid?! Next time I saw the Mystery Hunter, I swore to myself that I would kill her, so I wouldn't have to see Jamie's deceptive, hideous face ever again.

But she was a good ally to have, a strong ally. I couldn't kill her or Jake would kill me. He didn't care if I didn't like her, he wouldn't take that matter lightly. She was a good ally -- strong, elusive, smart, even beautiful. Whether she wore makeup or not, she was attractive (hey, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't notice it). But when she was an anaconda, she was powerful as well as beautiful. No, I wasn't jealous, just mad that the person I hated -- the person who _betrayed _me -- was my idol. Wow, how ironic was that? I felt like I had been struck multiple times in a row by an Andalite's tail, digging right into my heart, slicing through me like venom slithering lethally through my veins.

I spent what seemed like hours of suffering, of hearing women and their kids or teenage girls and their friends come in and turn the water taps on and off as they came and went, talking amongst themselves about pointless, meaningless things that apparently mattered to them. But they had no idea what was really going on in the world. They had no idea what it was like to feel like your entire world came crashing down with just one discovery, one realization that your idol is your worst enemy. It was like making Visser Three my best friend! Everyone was gone now, the mall was almost closing. I hadn't been in there long though: we had arrived at seven o'clock at the mall and I had run into the washroom at seven forty-five. I sat on the toilet seat with my head in my hands, staring down at the floor where my feet sat, shaking with anxiety and stress and fury.

I stood up, wrenched the door to the stall open and went over to the wall across the room to the side, then smashed my fist into the white wall. I immediately recoiled in pain as it ran up my arm, stopping momentarily to vibrate in my elbow.

"Ah! Crap, I hate this!" I looked at my fist and realized that I had punched the wall so hard that my knuckles were bleeding now. There was blood on the wall too. Not much, but enough to make me wonder why I hadn't punched anything that hard before. Maybe I just hadn't been mad enough before, I considered. I held my wrist and examined my hand closely, seeing it only as Jamie's head, her blank face, her eyes blank, showing no emotion but anger, resentment. I couldn't stand her.

The door behind me, the entrance to the bathroom, opened and Cassie stepped in. She came over to me wrapped her arms around me cautiously, knowing how I was when I was in a angry. But this time I let her hug me, to distracted and angry to care. She put her head on my shoulder as if it would comfort both of us.

"Rachel, I know you don't like her. But you can't change what you are and you can't change what she is. Believe me, I know it's hard, especially knowing what went on between you two. It's not easy for me either." She let go of me and I managed to wrap my arms around her shoulders too. What happened between me and Jamie better not happen to Cassie and me. We had been friends for such a long time that it would be impossible to tear us apart. I just hoped she knew that, because I wasn't willing to say it. Something ran down my cheek, and my first thought was blood, but then I realized it was a tear.

I wiped it away quickly, not wanting her to see my weakness. We were friends. We could never be torn apart. Our friendship was too important, too limitless. It was like we had known each other since birth. It had been like that with Jamie too, I reminded myself. I closed my eyes tight and held onto Cass tighter. That wouldn't happen to us. We wouldn't be drawn apart, even by boys. Especially by boys. No matter who came along.


	12. Marco the Great?

**Chapter 11**

**Marco the Great?**

(Jamie's POV)

As the air came rushing in, I smelled it sweet and soft against my face, drifting in from an open window as the vehicle moved forward. There were voices all around me as people laughed and bustled around restlessly, throwing things, talking, laughing, et cetera.

I stayed away from Hack today. I didn't care if it wasn't really him who had killed my father, but just hearing him made me sick. I couldn't stand him anymore. Even the thought that I couldn't turn him in was horrible.

"Hey," a familiar voice said beside me, making me jump. It was louder than the rest, which meant it was right beside me, but I doubted severely that it was talking to me. That voice was always speaking to his jock friends or something. I'd heard he was hot, that's all. Apparently he had lowered his standards -- by a lot. But something else happened that surprised me. "Jamie, right?" My head turned in his direction and I smelled something on him, like perfume. Then I realized that that scent belonged to the girl behind me and remembered that guys didn't wear perfume.

"Uh, yeah," I replied uncertainly, just waiting for him to say, "No, I wasn't talking to you. Sorry." But he replied with something else.

"OK, good. Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah." I hesitated, feeling that something incredibly serious was coming next. "Wait, before you start, what's your name?" I needed to know to talk to him.

"Jake."

"OK, shoot." A Controller? No, wait, he was one of the Animorphs! That was where I had heard his voice before! I tried to control my sudden panic. What if he knew? What would he say? What would _I _say to him? How would I explain that I was on their side?

He hesitated a second, letting my heart palpitate just a few seconds longer while I panicked. "You can hear me, right?" he asked in a low whisper. I nodded, making my movements as calm as possible, but they were stiff because of it. I tried to loosen them, but it didn't seem to work. "Were you near the ocean the other night?" he asked quietly. I froze. What would I tell him? I couldn't tell him I was the Mystery Hunter; what would he do? No, I had to keep a low profile, I had to keep my head on straight. I couldn't let any of this get out of control, because once it did there was no telling what would happen next. And being me, I liked to know what came next, just because most of my life was life-threatening. I looked away, thinking, wondering if I should tell him the truth. But then I remembered the "oath" I had made to myself, never to let them know. But I also knew that it should happen eventually, preferably sooner than later. But not like this. Not on the bus.

"Meet me later, outside English class. I have it with Murdist. Pull me out, fourth block, and say you need my help with something. I don't care what it is, but just do it. Got that?" I said in a low voice, just as Jake had. It was weird, talking to a jock; the only times I had ever heard his name or voice before was during battles against the Yeerks that I had been involved in. "I'll see you then," I said, confirming it before he could get a word in.

"Alright," he said, "I'll be there. We'll have to go outside to talk because Chapman is always roaming the halls during classes to see if all the students are where they're supposed to be. You know about him, right?"

I nodded. "But he knows about me too." I turned to Jake and made sure my eyes were locked in his direction. "They all know about me Jake. I've been there twice, they've seen me twice. It was before I knew your identities, but I don't want you to get too involved with me either. It's a dangerous job, Jake, as you already know. I don't want to be responsible for anything that happens to you or anyone else in the Animorphs. But I don't want anything bad to happen to any of you either.

"And now that you know who I am, don't get too involved. I only ever want to talk to you because you're the leader. I don't want contact with anyone else from your group outside school. Marco is in my science class, so I'll have to tell him that you came to me on the bus. But that's all. You have to do the rest."

"Got it," he replied in a business-like tone, as I had. "Thanks." He stood up and laughed mockingly, considering that most people like him made fun of people like me. But he seemed nice. I scowled to make it more realistic and turned away, hearing the voices of the jocks behind him laughing hysterically. "What a loser," I heard Jake say as he walked over to his jock friends. But I knew he was acting, for their sake. I heard them continue laughing and making fun of me, behind my back, but at the same time, to my face. He was good. I knew I could trust him.

XXX

I got to school at precisely eight forty, roughly forty minutes before school actually starts. The bus pulled up to the side of the school and stopped. I heard the doors open and the kids in the front flood out onto the school grounds. I heard Jake and his friends pass me, and as they did, one of them smacked my head, messing up my long brown hair. I scowled, but when Jake muttered "sorry" to me, I had to let it go. I knew jocks were just idiots anyway. Well, with him being the exception. I suddenly admired the Animorphs; they had a good leader.

I sat in science now, thinking of how I would tell Marco. The bell hadn't rung yet and he wasn't here, and I was sitting in the room basically alone except for a few binders left on the desks by their owners and a bunch of student clusters in the corner. I was a loner in most of my classes, my only friends being John, Hack and Keiichi. But I wasn't so sure about Hack anymore. I mean, yes, he had been manipulated when he shot my dad, but to me that was no excuse. I had to eliminate that Yeerk before it got back to Visser Three… unless it already had. I stopped writing the note and looked up when I heard Marco's footsteps come in, his voice departing from Jake's and coming closer to me to sit in front of me. He was laughing when he sat down, and I heard him start playing a random beat with his hands on his knees.

"Marco," I said quietly, almost shyly. I heard him turn around and I heard the surprise in his voice when he spoke to me.

"Uh… hi." I liked his voice; it was smooth and boyish, but had a dangerous edge to it at the same time. Just by listening to it, I could tell he led a dangerous life. He sounded cocky and like he could handle anything, but I knew that wasn't true. Most girls might think he was cute, but not me. Sometimes I wondered if I could him, would I reconsider my vote? No, I decided. No.

"I'm Jamie… or James," I introduced myself. I took a deep breath, like I was going to ask him out. I wondered if he was getting nervous -- getting asked out by an average blind girl isn't exactly every boy's dream. I held out my hand for him to shake, but I had put the note in it first inconspicuously, so he wouldn't notice.

"Uh, hi," he said curiously, sounding confused. He took my hand. "I'm… well, I guess you know who I am, since you said my name." I smiled as sweetly as I could and felt his hand heat up a bit, which was weird. That had never happened before. He pulled his hand away and I felt that the paper that had once been in my hand was there no more. I heard him unfurling it as he looked at it.

"It explains everything," I told him, and turned back to fidgeting with my binder. It was weird, but I could write. I mean, the feeling of the pen running against paper was simply familiar to me. I could control where it went and the letters it wrote, even the way it moved. And get this: it was legible! So I was told, anyway.

Marco stopped reading it and looked up at me. I could feel the astonished expression boring into the skin on my face. "_You _wrote this?" he demanded, sounding amazed. I nodded simply, flattered by his remark. Not that I would show it. "You can write?"

I cocked my head in annoyance. "Who else would have written it?" I demanded. "V-8?" It was a lame joke, but he knew what I meant by V-8. Visser Three. He laughed anyway, which surprised me.

"Nice one," he told me, and I felt my face go a slight shade of pink for a moment, then cool off again.

I cleared my throat awkwardly in surprise and thanks.

"It's funny," he continued, "It seems like most girls that I know could be described as Xena: Warrior Princess. Especially you and Rachel." I blushed a little here, hating myself for it as I showed him how easily embarrassed I was. Was he calling me strong? Resourceful? I admit, I did have a weird liking for the violence that came with this war. As long as it was directed at me, and not incredibly destructive. But unfortunately, it would never be directed completely toward me. "I like having you as an ally," he told me, "And I hope I can see you out of school rather than not, whether you can see me or not." That made me blush intensely and my eyes widened in horror at my own reaction. I looked away, my long hair shielding my face from his eyes.

"Uh…" I said awkwardly, my voice tighter than I wanted it to ever be. "Thanks, but um, well, that wasn't part of the plan." My voice was jerky as I struggled to get the words out, completely flattered by his compliments, but freaked out at the same time, as well as confused. I hadn't been hit on ever, and now here was one of the Animorphs, telling me how strong I was and wanting to see me outside of school. I started to get the involuntary feeling that he was asking me out on a date. My blush increased.

"James," he addressed me, but I kept my head down just in case the blush was still there. He changed his voice into a whisper. "Just because they know who you are, doesn't mean they know who I am. We can be seen together, Jamie." This had to be some kind of joke, I whimpered inwardly.

I grunted out a response, which was all I seemed to be able to do at the moment. He had freaked me out beyond the Jamie's-freak-out-point, which was _not _good. Whenever I went past that point was usually in a battle, and it had to do with anger. I knew how to handle that. I had no idea how to handle this!

He burst out laughing and I looked up, surprised and slightly relieved. I knew it! It _was _some kind of sick joke! And I had played right into it. I thought I was smart! Apparently not.

"Wow, that was too easy!" Marco said in the momentary gulps of air that came between his laughter. "I mean, I thought I could charm almost every girl, but I learned that I have powers beyond my own today! Even the tough girl who can't see me fell right into it! Oh, man, that was too good!"

I changed my throat into that of a honey badger, as well as my teeth. My fangs grew to be proportioned with my mouth and the rest of me, as well as the muscles in my throat. I growled menacingly at the one who had just stolen my dignity. His laughing slowed and soon dissipated altogether as he realized what had just happened. My head jerked forward as well as the rest of my body, which hit the desk and couldn't go any farther, but my mouth reached his head and I snapped my horrible jaws right in front of him. I felt his hair move out of the way of my teeth, just avoiding being ripped clean out of his scalp, and settled against his head once more. I growled again, and felt the air around him ripple slightly. I tried to talk but it only came out as a badger sound before I realized that I no longer had the right vocal chords for talking.

(Don't. Mess. With. Me,) I said menacingly, making my voice hard, as I would to Visser Three. I heard him gulp a little and I smirked. (If you ever threaten my dignity again, Marco, you know what will happen, don't you?) I snapped my jaws a little again, just to give him a hint. (A badger can scare away a grizzly bear. Imagine what it can do to you,) I added in a whisper. I narrowed my eyes as I felt him watching me, but I kept my face close to his. (Tell me. What can a badger do to you?)

"Hurt me? Severely?" he suggested meekly. I nodded.

(Good job, rookie. Now just think of what I can do to you as an anaconda, whether you're a gorilla or not.)

"Alright alright, I get the picture!" he exclaimed just as the bell went, moving away from me. "I won't do it again." I moved away as people came flooding in and started the change back into completely human before anyone saw.

(Good. You'd better watch your back from now on, brat. 'Cause I might be chewing on it if you ever pull something like that again.)

"Got it," he murmured, sounding annoyed. No kidding.

Good. I had my dignity back, none of the Animorphs would be seeing me outside of school, and all was good. Everything was the way it was supposed to be -- aside from Visser Three and his gang of mutated slugs from outer space.


	13. The Deal

Sorry I haven't posted any Animorphs in a while, but I've been kind of caught up in my FMA fanfic, because I'm posting them at the same time (kind of). But yeah... anyway, I'm promoting that fanfic as well by posting info about it on here! Am I a smart seller person (I forget what they're actually called. Haha, oh yeah, I'm smart... or not) or what? XD

I DON'T OWN ANIMORPHS OR ITS CHARACTERS.

**XXX**

**Chapter 12**

**The Deal**

"Hi Jake, did you forget something?" Mr. Merdist asked. I paused and looked up from my work. Good, he was right on time; not too early and not too late.

"No, I just wanted to see Jamie. She was supposed to help me with something," Jake said, and I heard him step into the room further.

"In what, exactly?" Merdist asked skeptically. He knew I didn't have any friends other than Keiichi, John or Hack, so I understood why he would be questioning Jake.

Jake thought fast. "History. We have a project due tomorrow and there was something I don't understand in the assignment sheet, so I was wondering if she could help me with it."

Merdist sighed and I heard him shuffling his papers we were studying about Macbeth on his desk. "Alright. Jamie? You know what to do."

"Thanks," I said, standing up and stepping carefully out of my desk so I could walk over to him. I knew the path into the class that I had taken so many times, and which I had memorized so well to get out also. I weaved my way through the aisle, passing the desks with ease. I almost tripped over someone's foot, but held my balance and continued toward Jake. "I was starting to think you wouldn't show up," I lied jokingly.

"Funny," he replied, not amused much. "Anyway, let's get down to business." Wow, this guy was hard-core. "Come on," he said, and lead me outside. We stopped, and when I asked where we were, he told me that it was the bike racks behind the school. I leaned back now as if to test his morality, and realized he was telling the truth: I nearly toppled over a bicycle when I leaned on it, practically going with it. I groped to get balance again, but Jake caught my arm and helped pull me up.

"It doesn't matter how much I trust you or not," Jake said, letting go of my arm to let me stand on my own, "I wouldn't be so cruel as to lie to you about where we are."

I was about to say something to make me look tough, but decided against it. "It's always good to be cautious though, right?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "Speaking of which, I want to know your story. I heard that you weren't always blind. And how did you know who we were before we knew anything about you?"

"I figured it out pretty quickly," I replied, "You guys were always yelling each other's names out, and I eventually figured out which ones were which and learned to memorize you all -- when I'm in morph I can see, you know. Plus, you introduced yourselves to me, but I wouldn't tell you who I was, remember?"

"Yeah," he replied, and I detected a sense of embarrassment in there somewhere, but I dropped it and continued.

"Anyway, you heard about that car crash about two years ago, right?" I asked him this without showing a tremor of fear at the memory, but in reality, I was practically trembling at the reminder of what had happened that day. "It was the day I went blind," I continued, remembering the awful way my senses had overwhelmed me after that, and I hadn't known how to control them anymore. It had been like a new morph, but the morph was painful and permanent.

"Yeah," he said again.

"That crash wasn't caused by just anything; it couldn't have been. I looked like it was caused by a deer or something, but it was Visser Three. He was standing in the middle of the road and I couldn't stop the car, so I swerved. I hit the ditch, and we rolled. I lost my sight as we were rolling, so I didn't see what happened to Petra."

"Petra?" He sounded slightly intrigued, but also afraid of what he might hear of her.

"My best friend. All I know is that she was killed by Visser Three." I lowered my head, despite the fact that I couldn't see him anyway. I guess I just didn't want him to see my face at the moment. "I was taken by Visser Three, but I don't know what happened to Keiichi, John or Hack -- they were all unconscious by then. He made me a Controller, but I fought with all I had, almost making my own brain explode when I did it. I ended up getting control over the Yeerk instead of the way it's supposed to go." I cringed slightly, remembering how horrible it had been to feel that Yeerk's suffering and see its memories as it died. "I tied myself up for three days. No food, no water," I continued, feeling the shame building in my soul as I told him. "My parents wondered what I was doing, but I just told them I was on a hunger strike for something. The Yeerk fought just as hard as I did, but somehow, I found that my will to live stronger.

"Visser Three didn't notice that I gone for a long time -- you know how it is. There are so many Yeerks and Controllers there that I wonder how he even noticed at all." I raised my head again to lock my eyes in his direction and continued. "By then I had found this weird cube thing on the ground in an abandoned construction site that I always hung out in, and right when I touched it, I felt this weird surge go through me, and I knew something was different. After that, I was just like you. I found out about you and the others by the second Yeerk who was in my head. He told me all about you, and I had to make a decision. Either I was going to be a slave to a Yeerk my entire life, or I could join the fight with you guys. The 'Andalite Bandits'. As you can tell, I went with the second choice."

"How did you get away from the second Yeerk?" he asked, and I could hear him pacing thoughtfully in front of me.

"The same way I did for the first one. But it was harder, considering this one was stronger. I made my little sister, Dana, tie me up this time, so I couldn't leave. I told her the same story I'd told my mom the first time: hunger strike." I laughed lightly and quietly. "It's amazing what people believe sometimes. This one was a hunger strike for the little restaurant on the corner that was about to be torn down. Apparently it made the papers, which I wasn't really planning on, but hey, what could I do? I wasn't willing to be a slave for long. Three days later, the Yeerk died. And now I'm free… except for the war."

I almost expected him to ask me how he could tell if I wasn't a Controller now. But that would have been a stupid question, considering that I had been fighting on the same side as him for a while, and that he was definitely not stupid. If he was, he wouldn't be the leader of the Andalite Bandits.

"Actually," he said suddenly, and he stopped walking around and came to stand in front of me. "We're not the Andalite Bandits." Immediately I was on guard. What the heck did he mean by that? Were they just Controllers posing as heroes? No, that was stupid. Or maybe they were some sort of "good Yeerk"? No, it wasn't impossible. It was stupid! "We're called the Animorphs. Marco made up the name, and I'm glad to have you, of all people, to be an ally of ours. You're a strong and smart warrior, and I'm glad you're not my enemy." I smiled, a little flattered and embarrassed at the same time. I stuck my hand out for him to shake and he took it. It was surprising and unexpected, making my nerves jump and I practically screamed. He shook my hand firmly and I was surprised by the contact; I hadn't had physical contact with another person for such a long time, it was almost painful in the way he grasped my hand and shook it to close the deal. The last time I had felt human contact was a few days before Dad died. The only time I had been home after that was to pick up my stuff and find a place to live that was completely isolated and that I could find my way easily around.

I can't tell you where it is though.


	14. The Discussion

Thanks for all of your reviews and other stuff... Haha. Don't worry, I know this story is long, but - like I said before - I like to drag things out, and I like to make suspense. Fret not, young'n, for 'tis almost done! Besides, I like this one, and I hope you (the audience) like it too. From the sounds of it you do, and I hope it stays that way. Haha. Luv y'all! Thankies!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THIS SHOW, BOOK OR ITS CHARACTERS! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND YET?? I DON'T OWN THEM? HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT?? WHY DO I HAVE TO CONTINUOUSLY TELL YOU THAT I DON'T OWN IT??

(Just making a point.)

**XXX**

**Chapter 13**

**The Discussion**

"I talked to Jamie," Jake announced at our next meeting in Cassie's barn. We weren't able to be there at our last meeting because her dad had been busy with some raccoon's intestines or something like that (I know: ew). He continued, "She admitted to being the Mystery Hunter and now she's officially our ally. She already knew who we were, having memorized our morphs, names and voices previously from being in battles with us so much. She only wants to meet with me, because I'm the, uh…" He hesitated, his face going slightly pink at the words he was about to say. He never liked the concept of being our leader, so even just saying it made him twitchy. I guess he just didn't want to sound too full of himself. "You know," he finished uncomfortably, "leader."

"How do we know she's really on our side?" I asked suddenly. I hadn't really meant to, but the fact that Jamie was my ally was just wrong. I hated her, and now I was supposed to work alongside her?! Ugh! The concept itself was just repulsive! I couldn't believe she had been my _idol _for at least two weeks! I felt my heart being gripped with fury every time I thought about it. "I mean, how do we know she's not just a Controller trying to get on our good side so she can turn us in later?" Besides, how could he expect me to trust someone who killed her own father? _No, _a voice told me in the back of my head. _No, Rachel, don't think like that. Weren't you the one who decided that she couldn't have done that?_

"I've thought about that," said Jake. I snorted incredulously, like "yeah right"! Jake sent me a look and I rolled my eyes, but he continued. "I got her to tell me her entire story from the start and she sounds legit. She's been a Controller twice, but she's been serving the opposite side from Visser Three ever since the second Yeerk. She fought both of them with all she had, and…" He looked at Ax now, his face completely blank. "Ax, I need to ask you something, because I thought this was weird. I've never heard of it happening before, not even the Andalite body Visser Three has been able to do this, that I know of."

(What is it Prince Jake?) Ax asked. Jake cringed at the name the alien gave him, but continued nonetheless.

"Here's what really got me, and it confused me a lot too, but she didn't seem to know it was unusual in any way: she said that she beat the Yeerks and that she got her sister to tie her up the second time so she couldn't go anywhere. The first time she apparently tied herself up. I mean, I didn't see anything else weird about her, except her loss of sight, but considering the crash two years ago, that's not so unusual." He paused, as if debating on whether to tell us more.

(Is that all, Prince Jake?) Ax's voice was expectant.

"Ax, don't call me that."

(Yes Prince Jake.) Jake sighed, knowing that no matter how many times he told him not to tell him that, he would continue.

"No, it's not all. She said… she said the crash was caused by Visser Three and that he killed her friend Petra, and it was how she became a Controller in the first place. The others were all unconscious by then. She was the unlucky one who was still awake, and frankly, I don't care what you say, Rachel, because I think she was still awake for a reason."

"Do you know what that reason was?" I said rudely.

"Rachel, please…" Cassie coaxed, touching my arm. I grimaced, but I stopped bashing the freak anyway.

"There's something else too," Marco said suddenly. It was the first thing he had said in a while, which was weird for him, but I decided to let him speak -- with a look from Cassie.

"There is?" I asked anyway. "Wow, I knew she was a freak, but this many weird things about her is just wrong!" I laughed, but Cass just sent me one of her famous I-know-I'm-not-you-mother-but-listen-to-me-anyway looks. I shut up then, and tried not to open my mouth again after that. It was hard, but I seemed to manage... somewhat.

"She threatened me as a badger today," Marco said, and all of our heads turned swiftly toward him. "I mean, not as an entire badger, but she changed some of her features to be a badger. I think she might be like Cassie -- you know, like she can kind of control the amount of the animal she turns into? She only turned her throat and teeth into a badger's, and she threatened me because I was being kind of an idiot. Rachel, don't comment," he added, as if reading my mind.

I smirked, only just holding back all of the mean jokes I had in store for him. "Later," I reassured him. "I would never make you miss out on something so important, Marco. It's a ritual for us; we can't go for at least a day without making fun of each other. You know that," I said, despite my efforts to keep my mouth shut. I smirked, but for once, Marco was completely serious and didn't even crack a smile. In my opinion he was spending way too much time with Jake. I was trying to lighten the mood, which was usually what he did, but he wasn't even trying at the moment, and someone had to. And I was the most bitter person there at the moment. How ironic, huh?

"Wait, she threatened you?" Jake demanded, sounding outraged. "Why would she do that?"

"I kind of… uh… made fun of her somehow. Don't ask. I was being an idiot, it's over with. I know what will happen to me if I do it again, so it's over," Marco said awkwardly.

(Oh, don't tell me you were yourself around her,) Tobias said from the rafters sarcastically. He was in his red-tailed hawk body and was scouting for other people, just in case they decided to barge in and get freaked out by an Andalite and a talking bird. (Girls hate that -- as long as it has to do with you, that is.) I couldn't help but snicker at that, but I kept it quiet in case someone actually heard it aside from Ax or Tobias, who both had incredible hearing.

"Well apparently she agrees with you and Rachel." Marco sounded depressed now, and I almost felt sorry for him. "But that's not the point." He perked up. "The point is, she's not normal! If she's been a Controller twice and killed both of them with no help, _and _she's able to control her morphs perfectly, even more than Cassie, it can only mean one thing: she's not human! She can't be! I don't know what she is."

"Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Jake said. "I mean, I don't know what this is, but let's not jump to conclusions. I know she is -- she looks like one, she acts like one, and she's raised by them. I mean--"

(Not necessarily,) Ax cut in, and we all looked at him, his Andalite eyes intent as the ones on stalks swiveled round excitedly. (I haven't heard of a case like this in years. Actually, I've only heard stories about them. I never knew they actually existed.)

"Never knew what existed?" Cassie asked cautiously.

Ax's stalk eyes swiveled round to face us now, looking intensely at all of us as we stared at him expectantly. (Gotika,) he replied simply. (They are the ancestors of the Andalites, they are where the morphing technology began. They are incredibly powerful creatures who not only manipulate their morphing powers, but they are able to override a Yeerk because their minds are adapted to slavery. They have been slaves to the Yeerks for such a long time, I would not be surprised if some of the people on your Earth are Gotika in disguise. Their minds are small and have some sort of shell around them to stop the Yeerks from controlling them completely. There is always some sort of control left over that they have over the Yeerk. And despite the sizes of their minds, they are incredibly intelligent. Possibly more intelligent than Andalites. They are water creatures who are able to control almost anything and/or everything in their environment.)

(Wait, I thought you told us that Andalites made the morphing technology, not any other creature,) Tobias pointed out.

(I did, but that was before I knew that Gotiki actually existed. Well, they did not officially create the morphing technology, but technically they contributed to it.) He paused as if to let it soak in, as if to let us guess inwardly before he continued. Before he did, however, Marco piped up with another stupid question of his.

"Gotiki?" he inquired.

"I think it's plural for Gotika," Cassie said, clearing it up for him.

"Oh. OK, go on," he added to Ax. "Like cactus and cacti?"

"Yes, like cactus and cacti," Cassie replied patiently.

"What's so special about these Gotiki anyway?" asked Jake. "How did they contribute to the morphing technology?"

(We needed something to start with. No one really knew how we acquired the basis for the technology, but it was in the myth about the Gotiki: it was a Gotika's genes that was the basis for the technology, who gave it to an Andalite one day, and the Andalite found out how to use it to make the power our own, because the Gotika noted that we needed it to help defend ourselves against the Yeerks and other threats. The legend says that the one who gave the gene was named Jamaia, a great female warrior, who created a whole new history for the Gotiki by handing over her morphing genes.)

"So this means that the Gotiki have this gene naturally?" I suggested, intrigued. "Does this mean that Jamie is a Gotika?" My resentment increased for some unidentified reason.

"No," Jake argued, as if he knew everything. "No, because Jamie said that when she touched a cube, she felt an instant change inside her. She said she gained the morphing power by touching the cube."

**(A/N: This is before David, for all you people who know about his betrayal and all that crudeness.)**

(There are many Gotiki who have been sent to Earth in their parents' hopes that they would be the ones to bring this world to peace; they have known about this war for longer than my race has, and have sent many of their race to help you at an incredibly young age, but none have come out to discover what they were and just thought they were human their entire life, their morphing abilities gone because they have not been used for such a long time. But when your friend Jamie--)

"She's not our friend," I snapped, unable to help myself that time. Jake short me a look, but I ignored it.

(I apologize. When your _ally _Jamie touched the cube, her morphing abilities must have been recalled, as well as her warrior spirit. She seems to have one as strong as Rachel's,) Ax finished, making a huge mistake by saying James was anything like me. I opened my mouth to yell something, but Jake cut in suddenly, making sure I didn't get a chance to talk.

"So she could still have a chance at being a Gotika," he mused. Ax nodded his blue Andalite head. "You know, it does make sense." Another pang of anger hit me at that, but I managed to hold back any snide comments.

"So you think she could be this new Gotika who saves the human race?" asked Marco, almost jokingly. "I mean, yes it makes sense, but she's just another kid like us. Even if she was a Gotika, do you really think she would even know?"

(She must find out somehow. Perhaps another Gotika would come to confront her,) Ax suggested.

(Maybe one already has,) Tobias put in.

There was silence for a long time, while we all contemplated our own theories about the girl supposedly named Jamie. I needed to get close to her again, to see what she really was. But how would I do that without being seen? I hated the idea, but I knew that I needed to, just to get a closer look at her. Just to see who she was with and what was going on with her. Then I remembered the newscast about the transforming owl, and how Jamie was still missing -- yet we all saw her at school the other day. So I guessed she hadn't gone back home, if she was still considered "missing".

I knew now that the owl was her and that she was missing because she didn't want to be blamed for her own father's death, but she would find a way to get back at the person who did this -- at least, that's what I would do. If someone killed a member of my family, I would kill them. But we weren't that similar were we? No, we couldn't be. She was Jamie and I was Rachel. I went shopping every weekend and she hung out with three bullies every weekend. We were nothing like each other. It was impossible for us to get along.

I knew she wouldn't be stupid enough to go to the school again; she only went that one day because she needed to get into contact with Jake, and apparently Marco. She wouldn't go back there, so I would have to find her. She couldn't be far from the forest, if she knew what she was now. There was a small lake near the forest and abandoned coves from golden eagles around it -- wait a minute. Didn't Cassie say she saw Jamie as a golden eagle? Huh. Funny how the world works in my favor sometimes. Although I really didn't want to see her.


	15. Metamorphosis

**I don't own Animorphs or its characters.**

**XXX**

**Chapter 14**

**Metamorphosis**

I was so freaked out by everything that had happened recently. I mean, first I became something of a mild hero, even though what I do is probably not doing anything for the actual world, considering we always seemed to stay in the same place all the time, even though all of this must be happening in other places too. Then I found out I'm something called a "Gotika". _Then _I met with Jake and I had to keep all of the Animorphs at arm's length just in case something happened to them because the Yeerks already knew who I was. I sighed as I looked down at the world beneath me. That was the main reason Rachel probably hated me: She couldn't understand why I couldn't just come out and apologize to her for what I did a few years ago, but I couldn't talk to her. It was for her own good; Chapman knew who I was and I wasn't going to let him get her too if he ever got hold of me again. I wasn't going to let him or any other freakish slug get hold of any of the Animorphs, or my family. Which was why I couldn't go home either.

I was a golden eagle now, floating aimlessly above the tall gray and white buildings, looking down at all the people who walked and probably had such boring lives. I wished for my life back, as it had been before I discovered all of this stuff. But at the same time, I loved what I did for the human race, and I didn't want to go back; ultimately, I was undecided. But I knew exactly where I was going and that was all that I wanted, or needed, to concentrate on.

I went back to the beach and landed inside an empty changing stall and morphed there. I felt my insides changing as my eyes stopped working and I went back to being blind, but my hearing improved and I could feel vibrations under my feet because of all the people walking. It was really annoying at first and it had scared me the first time I actually felt any vibrations, but I was used to it by now. I stepped out of the stall and found myself fitting right in, wearing a black jumper with all of the people in bathing suits around me; I was glad for that, because no one stopped and stared -- at least I didn't feel anyone looking at me.

I had to go deeper into the water this time, try to see if I could find the water. Once I did, I would have to go deep enough into the wetness to find that Gotika again. This time no sharks would come my way, I hoped. I waded into the water, once I found it, and went in without hesitation.

I dove under, feeling the vibrations from the people around me disappearing as I swam further out. I could feel something resembling seaweed sweeping against my stomach and the sensation made me sick, but I kept going. I could just imagine what was down there, what I was getting myself into right then. But I kept going, despite my disgust.

I felt my body change almost instantly when I began concentrating on the shark. My skin hardened and became almost like leather, and my legs melted together to form a tail, just like a shark's. My vision appeared again, which felt so much better, and I could see all of the feet beyond me, near the beach. I was in incredibly deep water, but the shark's mind wanted to move closer to the feet, maybe bite them, until I reminded it that they were humans, not seals.

I turned and headed toward the darker, deeper water in hopes of finding the Gotika again. Where was she?

(Jamaia.) I whirled to see her behind me, staring at me with urgency. (I was hoping you would come back. Does this mean you have accepted where you came from and what you really are?)

I tried to shake my head, but ended up shaking my entire body instead because sharks don't really have necks. (I don't know about that yet. I really just came to you for something, since you seem to know so much about me. It doesn't make sense to me how I could be anything other than human, except when I'm in morph. So I have a question.)

(Yes?)

(You said that only Gotiki can morph another of its species, right?)

(Yes.)

(So if I acquire your DNA and morph into the same creature and actual _person _as you, will that prove to me that I'm a Gotika?)

She hesitated, searching my face to see if I was serious; unfortunately, sharks don't exactly have facial expressions. (Yes,) she replied slowly. (But you must be human to acquire my DNA and--)

(I can't breathe under water, but I can hold my breath; it's not hard, but I'll do it fast. Please, just let me test this one thing. I need to know if what you say about me is true. I need to know if my family really is my family. I need to know if I really am a Gotika,) I said, trying to sound as desperate as I could.

She hesitated again, and then said, (Alright, if you must. But I have to warn you: if you become a Gotika, you will remain a Gotika if you truly are one. You will still have your morphing abilities because Gotiki have the morphing gene… but the girl named Jamie Peters will only be another morph, as it has been all these years. Do you understand?) she asked me as I began changing into a human. I stopped in mid-morph and stared at her.

I made my decision almost instantly after remembering all the disadvantages of life I had as a human. (I can't go back home, I can't go back to school, all the Yeerks are out looking for me because I'm a threat, along with the police because they think I killed my dad, and I can't see. All I have is one question: will all the morphs I have now still be with me when I'm a Gotika?)

(Yes,) she answered solemnly, and I continued to morph back to James from Jaws. (And your human DNA will mix with your Gotika DNA, so you will not look exactly like me for the rest of your being life. You will forever be known as Jamaia, the great female warrior who gave the Andalites the morphing gene.)

I was completely changed into a human now, and I couldn't see anything, which was another disadvantage for the human Jamie. I swam straight, just guessing as to where she was. I reached out with my hands, feeling nothing but the water all around me and the ripples of the water from where she was. I swam toward the vibrations in the water, careful to continue in that direction. Something wrapped around my hand, and at first I thought it was seaweed, so I tried to pull away, but it just held tighter, and suddenly I realized that it was the Gotika's smoky-like hair that had wrapped itself around my hand and was now pulling me in. I let it pull me now, feeling her hands reach out and touch my arms. She stayed still at that moment, and I could feel her powerful DNA pouring into me like liquid as she stayed completely still. For about ten seconds after I acquired her, I felt and heard nothing. She was in a trance, and I could feel myself sinking as I concentrated on changing into a Gotika.

Scales erupted on my arms, and I could feel them crawling up my skin; a tail sprouted out of my back, my spine elongating as I became longer, taller. My skin changed colour from pink to a smoky blue-green and became scaly and rough. I had wings coming out of my back as well, and I could feel them growing to become large enough for me to fly. My vision came back again and I saw all of this happening, saw my hands and feet and scales and my wings and I saw my tail as it wrapped around my legs and came to face me. My wings wrapped around my body and I saw them too -- large and beautiful, wrapping themselves around me like a blanket. I saw brown hair turning lighter as it acquired a blue tinge.

I had morphed a Gotika. That could only mean one thing. I looked at the female Gotika in front of me. (Thank you,) could not begin to describe my gratefulness at that moment, I added silently. (So I really am a Gotika.) I examined myself in the water, my new lungs able to breathe water in and out of them. It was weird, having _lungs _that could breathe water. I also had about five hearts, and I could hear them all pumping blood into my body and cleansing it… or whatever they all did. Honestly, why did any creature need five hearts?

(You're welcome. My business is done now. You have accepted your fate, and you will live like this for the rest of your life. We, the Gotiki, will one day come, when you call. It's not time yet.) And she shot out of the water, propelling herself with her huge wings, to break out of the surface and fly into the sky and beyond, to her home in space. I watched her go, my eyes adjusting to the light reflected off of the water. Wait, the wings were meant for flying too? Wow. I'd had no idea before that moment, when she exploded from the water. I had always thought they were just for propelling a Gotika through the water. I swam to the surface and popped my head out to watch her disappear, like a bullet, into the light blue and white of the sky.

I sunk ldeeper into the water when she was gone, and propelled myself from that point on to burst out of the water as she had. I was glad I'd had some practice flying as a golden eagle, and I flew away into the sky. This was my new, permanent, body. I would have to get used to it and strive off of what my Gotika body knew it could eat, and I would have to refuse to let the gross-factor get in the way as I ate it. Like raw fish, for instance. I would live with it, and I would learn to adapt to it, all the way to the end. I wouldn't go back; I couldn't. I knew I could see the Animorphs at least once before I went away. Before I left. Or maybe they would let me live in the forest with Aximilli and Tobias. Maybe I could join them.

No. I pushed those naïve thoughts aside, knowing that Cassie and Rachel would refuse and therefore, I would not be able to join them. I would still fight alongside them, but I knew I could never actually be one of them. A sudden feeling of loneliness struck me when I passed over my family's house, and I started to descend. I had to see my sister and my mom, if only to explain what happened with Dad. What would they do when they saw me, was my biggest concern.

XXX

I morphed into a human again by the shed in our backyard, and found my way to the house again by having memorized the path when I still lived there. When this was still my life.

I knocked on the back door now, almost hoping no one would answer. But the door clicked and creaked open, and I heard the familiar gasp of shock that Dana had when she was scared or… well, shocked.

"Jamie?" she breathed in horror at my appearance. My heart rate instantly increased in anticipation and nervousness.

"Hey," I said quietly.


	16. Ambush

**Chapter 15  
**

**Ambush**

"Where have you been?" My mom shrieked. She was pacing around the room angrily, her feet pounding on the floor and giving me a gradual headache. Dana sat in the kitchen by Mom's orders and listened intently. "I have been waiting for you to come home for the last three days! _Three days_, Jamie! What is this, some kind of game?! What is wrong with you?! Why didn't you come home? Don't you realize how freaking worried I was?!"

"Mom!" I yelled suddenly, my headache getting the better of me. I stood, careful not to step on the cat as he ran before my feet. "Will you just stop? I wanted to come home! I wanted to tell you what really happened, but how do you expect me to do that when the police think _I_ did it? I couldn't come back here! I couldn't do anything with them out looking for me! What did you expect me to do -- turn myself in for something that I didn't do?"

My mom stopped and I heard her sit down. She was upset, needless to say. "Why couldn't you just contact me?" she maoned, sounding close to tears. "Why couldn't you just tell me where you were?"

"You know how cops are," I insisted, "They'd want to know if you had contact with me. Besides, I had no way to talk to you unless I came to see you, and I couldn't do that. I'm sorry, but I couldn't let you know anything."

"Jasmine." She sounded like she was actually crying now. "Please, just cooperate with me! Why wouldn't you at least come home? If you had come home, they police wouldn't be looking for you right now! You're sixteen years old! You shouldn't be out on the streets playing refugee! You should be home with me and with Dana, telling the police what happened! No, you should be telling _us, your family, _what happened!" She stood up again and came toward me; she now stood in front of me and I could smell her breath. It was kind of minty from toothpaste. "Why couldn't you at least come home before someone found him? Why not before anyone knew you were gone? Why couldn't you just tell us what happened?"

"They're not the only ones looking for me!" I shrieked, my only goal now to get her off my back.

"What?" she demanded, sounding alarmed.

"Look, there are these things -- these… people," I said, thinking fast, aware of my first mistake. I couldn't tell her, no matter how badly I wanted to see her. But then, how could I make her see why I couldn't explain all of this to her?

She stopped, and her eyes came to rest on me. "People?" she demanded. "People?! What _people_?" Anyone else would have thought her tone was worried because they wouldn't know any better. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes widened. How could this have happened? _When_ did it happen?

"Get out of this house," I ordered, my voice severe. "Is Dana one too?" I demanded, and I heard Dana stand up and come walking forward.

"James? What are you talking about?" she asked, sounding incredibly innocent.

"Well, I figured that since you already know about us, I might as well let you know. You mother is quite worried about you, Jamie, but I've told her all your secrets by now. Don't worry -- she knows why you didn't come home. It would have been stupid of you. But, I guess I overestimated you, Jasmine."

"Dana, stay out of here," I ordered. I turned back to the Yeerk. "You freak, what have you done with my mother?!" I listened intently as we had this conversation, just in case Visser Three decided to burst in through a window at any moment. "Let me talk to her! Let her out!"

"And why should I do that? You know, after the death of your father, she made herself quite vulnerable. She was weak, exposed, and your disappearance didn't help much, now did it? Dana wasn't home at the time, so we couldn't get to her. But in the past few days, I've had so much fun just making her wonder why 'Mommy doesn't love her anymore'." The creature laughed with my mother's voice, and I almost snapped. But I had to control the blood boiling in my head. I had to control my anger, my longing for violence at that moment.

"James?" Dana insisted, and I whirled on her.

"Didn't I tell you to leave? Now go -- before you get caught up in this! Go to the forest and look for Ax and Tobias! Yell out for them, I don't care what you do, just go! Get them and come back!"

The monster in front of me laughed triumphantly. "Again, you've proven yourself incompetent. You just told me where she was going and who she was going to get. It'll be pretty easy for me to track her now, don't you agree?"

"What does it matter?" I countered, "It's not like you can go chasing her yourself -- not as long as I'm here. And what else is there to do? Send out a radio message to your little Yeerk friends? Wow, you certainly are a creative one. Besides, you have a human body -- you can't outrun me." I heard the door close right after that sentence and footsteps running away from the house.

"Really now?" she said, sounding amused. "I'm surprised you don't remember me, Jamie. I outran you in the forest, after your father died -- and let's not forget that you were an _owl_ at the time. Oh, and did I mention that your friend Hack had a little accident down the road? He committed suicide, trying to get me out of his head. It was quite gory, actually. There was blood everywhere." My mom's head leaned in close to me and whispered into my ear, "He shot himself in the head, but by that time, I was already gone." My eyes widened. Hack was... dead? The loss hit me like a tsunami, wiping me out and almost killing me. He killed himself... because he had killed my father?

I screamed now, completely letting my anger out on her. "It's you!" I screamed, and attacked where I knew she was. I tackled the Controller and knocked her to the ground. "Let me talk to her! Let me talk to her now!" I screamed, punching the floor beside her head.

"Alright, alright. Not too hasty now, girlie."

"Hurry up!" I punched the floor once more, just waiting to hear my mother's voice with anticipation.

There was silence for a few moments, then my mom's frantic voice came flooding into my ears. "Jamie! I'm so proud of you, and what you do! I'm sorry, I was mad at you at first, but I knew you couldn't kill him! I knew it! I'm so proud of you, my baby. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she cried, sobs intercepting now and again. She reached up and touched my face, the sensation making me jump, still on guard.

"Mom," I said, "I'm sorry, but I need to get rid of this Yeerk. I won't kill you, but I need to find a way to get him out of your head. Can you help me?"

Her tone faltered, suddenly sounding sad, rather than frantic. "Honey, you know there's only one way. James… you know what it's like, don't you? You can sympathize. I'm so glad you beat those two Yeerks. This freak told me about them; you're a legend. I'm so glad that you're fighting them now. I want you to know that. OK? I want you to know that I never blamed you for your father's death

I know you could never do something like that. But you know that there is only one way to get rid of a Yeerk, and you know that I would rather die than be a slave. We both would, and the parasite will do anything to hang on… anything."

I recoiled, almost standing up in my shock. "No. Mom, no. Just no. I can't, you know I can't. You shouldn't expect me to do that! You can't expect me to do that!"

"I don't expect you to," she said, and when she touched my face again, I suddenly found that I wanted it to stay there. I didn't want to do what she was asking me to. "But this Yeerk will try to take you again, it will try to take you to Visser Three. It wants you to be one of them again. You can't let them do that, not after all that you've done for me, and for Dana, _and_ for your father. I'd rather die for the sake of the world than have you die for nothing."

I shook my head violently. "No, Mom, you don't want me to do this!"

"Jamie," she snapped, her tone forcing me to look into her face. "I'd rather die than--" Her hands suddenly had a firm grip around my throat. I gave a choked cry and struggled against them, but they wouldn't let go. I tore at the hands around my neck, trying to loosen their grip and get away.

I reared my arm back and curled my fingers into a fist, then thrust them down onto her face. Her head jerked sideways and her grip loosened immediately, so I was able to roll away from her and get up. I felt around on top of a table I remembered being there, and found the base of a lamp. I picked it up and turned around, about to bash her over the head with it, despite my promise to keep Mom alive, but I knew she was right, and my survival instincts almost wanted her to be right. But the same hands that had clutched my throat just moments ago snatched the lamp and threw it aside with ease. A fist made contact with my face and I was thrown aside. I rolled on my side, but banged into the wall and got up again, pain searing my side. I tasted blood in my mouth and spat it out, all the while wondering how I was going to get out of this mess and where my cat, Ginger, was. It was weird, but I worried about that weird cat sometimes. I heard something skittering across the floor -- maybe it was him -- but I didn't have time to pay much attention. At that moment, I heard something whistling toward me, full throttle, and dove out of the way, at the same time swinging my leg around so I could sweep the woman off her feet. But she was too far away and I missed, only sending me around in a circle. Wow, didn't that make me feel like an idiot?

Something hit me in the back of my head, a dull pain that numbed my skull and sent me into a dizzied frenzy. I was about to stand up again, but it hit me again, and I was down. It hit me again, just to make sure, and everything stopped.


	17. Dana

**Chapter 16**

**Dana**

"Hey!" I screamed as I ran through the trees, trying to go as fast I could. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew what I had to do; I knew what James had told me to do, and I wasn't about to let her down. "Hey! Ax! Tobias! Hello?" I stopped near a small lake in a clearing, having seen no sign of anyone who could have been named Ax or Tobias; in fact, I hadn't seen anyone at all. What was going on here? What, had she just wanted to get rid of me? Was I that much of a burden? I had been running for a long time, taking the occasional time to walk or stop to rest, but I had known the entire time what I had to do, and I wasn't going to let my sister down.

I dropped to my knees now, tired with almost all of my strength drained. "Come on," I muttered, close to tears. "Come on, there has to be someone here!" I looked up to the sky and saw a bird up there, maybe a hawk, descending down toward me. I ignored it and looked around again and screamed with all the remaining strength I had, "Tobias! Ax! My sister is in trouble! She said to…" I stopped, all of my new strength gone in a moment. I doubled over, trying to get it back. "Come on, come on…" I whimpered to myself, almost daring myself to cry. "Don't you dare, Dana. If you cry, that means you're lost, which means we're all lost. Jamie's not lost yet, though, so just suck it up and keep going. Got it?" I demanded to no one but myself, and I forced my body upright again. The hawk landed a few feet away from me on a branch and I looked at it curiously. It was looking at me. Great, I was about to be attacked by a giant bird because I was in its territory, all because of my stupid sister trying to get rid of me!

I took a step forward to move out of its home, but something erupted inside my mind right then. It was a voice. It wasn't my conscience or even my own thoughts; it was a voice, like something or someone was communicating with me telepathically. It scared me half to death.

(You called?) I jumped, looking around, searching for the source. My heart pounded in my chest as I looked around, suddenly wondering about the fate of my sanity. I looked at the hawk and saw it staring right at me again. No way… My eyes widened, but I turned away. Not even I had that much imagination. (Are you going to pay attention to me or not?) There was that voice again.

"Oh, crap," I murmured, gripping my head in terror. "I'm nuts. I'm so tired I'm going crazy!" I looked around again, and again the hawk stared at me intently, eyes boring into me like it could see past my skin into my very soul. I shivered. I hated that feeling; I was exposed to this animal, completely naked from the inside out.

(You're not going crazy, it's just a long story,) the inner voice explained, (And yes, it's the hawk talking. I'm a red-tailed hawk, actually. Well, not technically. Technically I'm a human. But you don't need to know the details right now. What's going on with Jamie?)

"Uh-uh," I said, backing away from the bird slowly. I swear, I saw it roll its eyes. "I don't drink. I'm not drunk, and I don't do drugs either!" I looked up at the sky and yelled, "Okay, I don't get what you're doing, but--"

(Will you stop that! If Jamie is in trouble we need to know what's going on! I don't care if you believe me or not, because I could be a magical fairy hawk for all you know! Just tell us where James is and we'll leave you alone after that.)

"Us? We?" I asked.

(Ax will be here in a minute.)

"So there is an Ax. What's he, a bear?"

(Try Andalite.) Another voice. Great. That should be Ax. I turned around, expecting to see some weird deformed alien with an almond head and big catlike eyes and a tiny body that would make it a bobble head, but instead I met something beautiful -- and I stared.

"You're…" I began in awe.

(Aximilli-Esgarouth-Isthil. He is right; if the Mystery Hunter is in danger, we must help. Where is she?) he asked me, and I nodded stupidly. Then, realizing the question, I shook my head to clear it.

"At my house. She was having a fight with my mom that apparently turned bad. They started yelling right before I left," I explained as we started going in that direction. Tobias landed on the ground in front of me and he and Ax started to change. Their fur and feathers soon turned pink and were absorbed into their skin and I almost barfed at the sight, while I willed myself not to scream and run away. It was like a train wreck: I didn't want to look away, but it was so horrible that I was almost sick. I forced myself to turn around, hearing the sickening noises of organs changing and bones readjusting.

"Sorry about that," said a voice a few minutes later. It was Tobias's. I turned around again, and was surprised to see a tall, gangly blond boy and a boy that looked remarkably like him. They were both wearing tight shirts and biking shorts, which were a little too tight for my liking.

My eyes widened at the sight of them, and I muttered to myself, "What kind of sick, twisted game is this?" What kind of people did her sister hang out with?

"Game? I do not see any games here," Ax said seriously, then added comically, "G-uh-ame. Game-uh. Guh-ame-uh. Gaaame."

I had to keep myself from laughing, but at the same time, I had to keep myself from screaming, "What the heck is going on here?!" Instead, with them, I continued toward my house with the two transforming… people… as fast as we could go on human legs. Honestly, they had better tell me what was going on when this was all over.

We ran as fast as we could, our breath running out fast, and since I had been running to the forest in the first place, I was even more tired. But the other two seemed perfectly fine; they must have gotten a lot of exercise to be so fit.

I gripped the doorknob as soon as we ran up the driveway and tore it open.

"James!" I yelled, going into the kitchen, which was directly in front of the doorway, maybe two paces to the left. "James, where are you?" I walked brusquely into the living room, about five feet to the right, across from the kitchen, and saw a lamp broken on the floor. There were spots of blood in places, but nothing else. There was no one, not even my mom.

"This is bad," I informed Tobias and Ax.

XXX

Later, I was talking to all of my sister's friends, even Rachel and Cassie. They didn't tell me what was going on, but they told me to tell them everything that had happened in my house when James was fighting with Mom. I was so distressed and worried that I could barely speak. I had no idea what was going on! Why wouldn't they tell me? I tried to bat my fear back down, though, so I could tell them everything. My voice shook as I recounted the story and told them everything that I could remember them saying.

"What happened next?" Cassie asked me soothingly. She set her hand on my shoulder comfortingly, coaxing me to tell her the rest. I was almost done my story, almost done recalling all of the details.

"Nothing. I mean, I ran out. I had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do." I suddenly looked up at them. They were all so strong, such great warriors. But what was it that they were keeping from me? "I went to find Ax and Tobias, but… I went to find two humans!" I cried suddenly, remembering the shock at finding out that a _hawk _was talking to me. "Instead I got a hawk and some sort of weird alien! Will someone please tell me what's going on here? If you have any idea of what happened to my sister, I want to know! I want to help find her! I want to help you! I can, I know I can! My age doesn't matter, I'm strong! I'm--"

"It doesn't matter what your age is or how strong you are. It depends on something else here," snapped Rachel. It was weird; she seemed the most worried out of all of Jamie's friends, and this was the blond Barbie who _betrayed_ her! I looked away from her, angry tears stinging my eyes, threatening to show my weakness, my worry for my sister, to them.

"Dana," Marco said suddenly. He sounded a little distressed as well, which surprised me. "Jamie's strong. She can survive anything, OK? I've seen her come out alive from a lot worse than just being kidnapped. You don't need to help us; it's too dangerous anyway. You could get hurt, or worse -- killed. Do you understand?"

I turned away from all of them again, unwelcome tears gushing out of my eyes and down my cheeks onto my lap. "Fine," I mumbled. I didn't want to get killed, and me going with them would just make everything more complicated. But they were just kids too, weren't they? They were only a few years older than me. I nodded anyway, my head still turned in the other direction in fear of them seeing my tears. In the far right corner of the barn, Jake stood from a hay bail and turned to his friends and me.

"I'm sorry, but we can't tell you anything except that you shouldn't trust anyone anymore Dana. You need to keep your eyes open and you can't even trust your parents or anyone else. Just us. I'm sorry to say that we're the only ones who you can trust anymore. But we can't trust you all the time either. We'll bring your sister back and your mother. Hopefully, they'll both be themselves." He turned to Cassie, Marco, Rachel, Ax and Tobias. "Come on. We've got some scouting to do. Dana, go home and don't let anyone in, especially if it's Jamie or your mom, OK?"

I looked at him now, wiping away the sliding tears, and nodded. Cassie squeezed my shoulder and looked me straight in my eyes.

"You'll be fine, Dana. Just wait until we get back; then you'll be safe, OK?" I nodded and she hugged me this time. "You're stronger than you think you are," she whispered, and I hugged her back.


	18. Tom

**Chapter 17**

**Tom**

(Rachel's POV)

(Make sure to scan the area for _any _signs of an opening. Even if you see a known Controller, tell me,) Jake instructed. We were up in the sky again -- well, Tobias, Ax and me were. Jake, Cassie and Marco were down on the ground as their own kinds of animals. We had made a pit stop at a local animal shelter and Cassie acquired a black and white American Shorthair cat with amber eyes. Jake had already acquired Homer, his Golden Retriever, and Marco had an Irish Setter morph that he was using.

(Got it,) I confirmed, and the hawk, the alien and I flew on in front of the three four-legged animals.

We flew for what felt like hours, just searching for that one person, one sign that would make all the difference. I couldn't believe it; this was so annoying! Why exactly were we doing this? I mean, how likely was it that we would suddenly see Chapman walking down the street toward a shopping mall? It just wasn't going to happen - not in a city like this anyway.

But really, what other options did we have? We could get Marco to trace something on his computer, but what good would that do if we didn't have the right equipment. His dad was a computer guy -- not a government spy. I suddenly wondered if Andalites had some sort of tracking device built into them to put into the people they knew that they suspected as Yeerks, like a biological GPS. I thought it over, and decided it wasn't likely. If he did, we would know where she was by now.

XXX

(Jamie's POV)

I felt everything come back into focus and opened my eyes slightly, but I still didn't see anything. There was noise all around me, pounding in my ears like a hammer slamming my eardrums into my brain. It took me a second to identify them, but I heard it eventually: screams of inner agony, fear and pleadings. They were all around me, and I felt the floor beneath me moving unsteadily, like I was floating on an ocean or some other body of water during the beginning of a storm.

I groaned and struggled to my feet, my head instantly feeling like I had banged it against a brick wall several times. I fell again with everyone moving the floor beneath me, and suddenly felt my stomach lurch. Ugh. I needed to get out of there, and fast, before I spewed all over the place.

I stumbled to my feet again and was knocked into a row of bars this time, when the floor thrust itself to the side and I was flung to the opposite side by the force of gravity. Bars? I wondered, and pushed myself away from them. OK, time to find out my whereabouts.

I concentrated on the Gotika DNA that I had acquired recently, still unable to believe that it wasn't a dream, and pictured only the peaceful smoky eyes of the creature that had been before me just hours ago.

Right when vision came to me, I regretted ever having it. The bars I was holding onto were the bars of a cage, and the desperate cries I heard were those of the hosts for Yeerks. The shells that were trapped, unable to escape from an eternal prison, captured by their own deception.

That was when the familiar voice wafted into my ears and I turned to face Tom, Jake's older brother. He was normally a Controller, but not at the moment. Right then, he was just Tom. The only reason I knew about him was because I had seen him before in here, and I had heard Rachel talking about him. I had also heard his voice when I was with Rachel and Cassie once; he had been walking with Jake, who I hadn't even known then.

I turned around and, with my eyes still the smoky eyes of the graceful creature called Gotika, I saw him. He had brown hair and was tall, like his brother, but he was a few years older, obviously. I heard his familiar voice as he stood by the bars of the cage on the other side of it, reaching out of the bars frantically and screaming at a Hork-Bajir, his voice coated with rage and hate. All of the voices here were.

I managed to get over to Tom through the crowd, trying to reach the familiar face, trying to see if he would recognize me. I tripped over a host body lying on the floor as I traversed across the it toward Tom. He stopped screaming and recoiled when he was almost slashed by the blades of a Hork-Bajir's arm. He managed to back away from the arm right before the blades bit into his skin, but he stumbled on the rickety floor and almost fell. Luckily for him, I was standing there to catch him on his way down. I set him against the bars of the cage in the only free space in that cage, and sat down beside him.

He glanced at me, then tried to get up again. I held him back though. I don't know why, even now when I look back on it, but I held him back. I pressed my hand against his chest and pulled back, making him sit down again with a dull, almost unheard thud, moving the cage a little more in addition to the unsteady rocking sensation it already had.

He looked at me now like I was crazy. Why wouldn't he? He didn't even know me.

"What do you want?" he demanded angrily.

"Jamie," I replied, just as loudly, but not as defensively. "Or James, your choice to call me either. You don't know me, but I've seen you before. You're Tom, Jake's older brother and Rachel's cousin. I used to be friends with her," I added before he could catch on that Jake and Rachel were Animorphs. He looked at me now and I saw a sense of recognition in his face.

He furrowed his brow and I heard him say something that sent shivers up and down my spine. "Andalite Bandit."

I stared at him for a moment. "So they all know?" I demanded. "All of the Yeerks know about me?"

"Well you've been here enough. You've been a Controller too. They see you as a threat -- a big one," he said. I nodded.

"I know. That's good -- it means I'm getting somewhere. But so are the Yeerks in that case, if they want to be rid of me so badly." I looked around the cage once more before turning back to him. "I guess they're going to succeed after all. I can't do anything against a prison like this."

"What about turning into something small?" he asked me. You know you're inexperienced with morphing when...

I sighed. "There are too many people -- I would be trampled by all of them before I even got out of the cage. No, I'll just have to wait it out until the real Andalite Bandits come," I said regretfully.

"The real Andalite Bandits?" he inquired. I nodded.

"What, you think I'm one of them? No, I'm on my own. I work solo, no matter how many times I help them out. I'm still a loner, no matter how many times I try to convince myself otherwise. I need to stay that way, to protect them and everyone else," I said, almost unaware of what I was saying until it was out of my mouth. I was shocked by my openness, and quickly changed the subject after clearing my throat uncomfortably. "So how did you come to be here in the first place?" I asked, gesturing with a casual twitch of my head around the cage.

"The Sharing sucked me in," he said regretfully. "I hate what they do, trying to take over the world by enslaving the human race. It's sickening. I was trying to show a girl that I could be open-minded at first, but then I became a 'full member'. I became a despicable creature like the Yeerks, scouting for other victims just seen as hosts to them and taking away their entire lives." He punched the ground between us. "It's just like they did to me! It's not fair! I don't get talk to talk to my brother anymore or my parents or anyone else I know! I might as well be dead!"

"I know the feeling," I told him as kindly as my personality would allow. "I've been a Controller twice already, and now I might be a third time. This time there's more at risk though; I know something they don't. I have more information this time." I looked at the ground, almost wondering why I didn't tell him. If the Animorphs arrived in time, maybe we could save Tom, and a few other people. But that was only a maybe. No, I had to stay in silence.

"You were?" he asked curiously, completely unaware of this fact. "How did it happen?"

I looked outside the bars of the cage, for once since I went blind, completely able to see my surroundings, and told him how I became a Controller the first two times. I looked around hopefully, but saw nothing that would give me any knowledge that the Animorphs were coming for me, which was what I had to count on anyway. A) It was the most likely scenario, and B) I had to think about the worst possible outcome if I wanted to survive.

My motto for when I was in a rut like this one: Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

"What happened this time?" Tom asked me, and I turned to face him.

"My mom brought me this time. She's a Controller and I went to see her after I met a friend. I've been away from home so long that I really had no idea of what I should have expected. But I got her to talk to me. The Yeerk let her talk -- and yes, I know it was her. If it was a Yeerk, I would have been able to tell. They can't help but sound cocky and arrogant all the time. And if they ever tried to sound scared, their pride would be completely broken by it."

He scoffed his agreement. "No kidding. I wish I could talk to Jake sometimes, and be like we used to be. Playing basketball and just hanging out. I wish I could talk to my mom and dad too, you know?" He sighed and rested his head back against the bars of the giant birdcage.

"Yeah," I said softly, "I know. We'll get out of here, Tom. I promise. The Andalite Bandits will find us and they'll come get us. Besides, coming to get me is another excuse for them to raid the Pool." _As well as to get you, Tom, _I added silently.

"You know, I think your mom was here a few days ago. She was in this same cage with me, and we were talking about you. She said she had a daughter. She knew you were hiding something from her, but she also knew you were strong. She said the only thing you would hide from her was something good. Then we found out about this additional Andalite Bandit, and she knew it was you right away. I don't know how, but she knew," Tom told me.

"So she did know me," I said, joking my smugness. I forced a laugh, despite the atmosphere of despair and fear. When I looked over at Tom, he glared at me and I faltered. I scowled. Someone needed to lighten up, even in a time like that. "He who does not hope has already lost," I said to him pointedly. "That's my favorite quote. I have it posted up in my room. I don't know who said it, but it's really helped me while fighting with the Andalite Bandits sometimes. It could do something for you too, you know."

"Yeah right," he said sarcastically, "Like the stuff it's done for me so many times over isn't enough. It needs to insist and barge into my life even more, no matter how much I want it to leave."

"Cynic," I said sourly, turning away from him. "I wouldn't have survived anything I've done so far without that quote, and here you are telling me it's no good. Gee, you're sensitive." I said the last part very defensively as I rolled my eyes. "I know they'll come. And if you're going to be like that, they might as well leave you behind."

He looked over at me and frowned, then looked away and touched his hand to his forehead in his stress. "I'm sorry, Jamie. It's just that I've been here so long and I've fought so hard against the Yeerk that's been inside my head, I just… I've lost it, OK? I feel like I'm dead, like a vegetable that's been in the ground too long. There's no way to get out of it for me. I have no hope, no certainty that the Andalite Bandits will come for me or if they even consider me. But you have them as your allies. They have a good reason to come for you: you know too much to become a Controller; they'd never let it happen." He dragged his hand down his face and looked over at me once more after he dropped it. "I'm sorry," he said.

"They have more of a reason to save you than you think," I told him, and in my attempt to be nice, I placed my hand on his forearm and smiled at him. It was uncomfortable -- I felt like I was flirting with an older man, but what else could I do? I couldn't come flat out and tell him that his younger brother was the leader of the Animorphs. Besides, he wasn't that much older than me. Maybe a couple years, but that was the most I saw in the age difference category. Cassie made being nice look so easy, but she had no idea how hard it really was for me.

"I doubt it," he replied, "But thanks." He put his hand over mine and I felt even more uncomfortable. Now he was flirting with me! Agh! When would this stop?!

XXX

(Rachel's POV)

I found myself almost worrying about Jamie when Jake announced that we were heading back to Cassie's barn. But then I realized that I was only worrying about her because she held the fate of the Animorphs in her head. If the Visser made her a Controller, she would have to give us up, whether it was her choice or not.

I really despised her, but I had no idea why sometimes. Occasionally, part of me just wanted to forgive her like Cassie had. But I couldn't -- why not? Why couldn't I just let go of what she did to me? I knew it wasn't benefiting either of us, but for some reason, I didn't seem to care -- until now. I hadn't cared until I found out she was just like us -- maybe more than us. Ever since I learned she might be a Gotika, I found it harder and harder to hold a grudge against her. I guess it was just this little something inside me that was realizing that she wasn't all that bad -- but I argued with myself that she was a horrible person, hanging out with Hack and Keiichi and John all the time. But was that really her fault? They did influence her, after all.

I was arguing with myself way too much lately. It wasn't right for me to judge her like that when she spent the better part of her time saving the world with us. If I judged her, I was judging myself and my friends. That wasn't right. Why was I so cruel to her? I had to stop this; I had to apologize to her, when I got the chance.

I hated to admit it, but our feud was partly my fault.


	19. Blood

**Chapter 18**

Blood

(Jamie's Mom's POV)

_You can't do this to me, _I said to the Yeerk. _You can't do this to my daughter either. And you're not going near Dana! I can't believe I let you do this. I should have fought back. I should have done something against you! I hate you, get out of my head!_

_Sorry, but I can't do that. You see, I'm attached to you until the day you die. You don't live your life anymore, Debra: I do. You have no escape, no refuge from my control. Don't even try to control me, because it's just going to end badly for you, _the Yeerk argued with me. It was arrogant and cocky. This was painful, watching my daughter suffer while I had no idea where my other daughter was.

_You arrogant jerk, let me out of here. I need to talk to my daughter._

_Why, so you can tell her how to escape? I know your thoughts, Deb. You can't hide them from me. You can't run either. _The creature laughed arrogantly, mocking me and my weakness. I felt sadness creep up on me, followed by a wave of loneliness. I would never get to hold my daughter again, now that she knew what I really was. She would never come near me again. I let the Yeerk control my eyes and scan the area around me. I knew I couldn't escape; I knew I couldn't do anything against it. It would just kill me if I ended up getting at least a little bit of control. It didn't want to die, but neither did I. I hated it.

_Just let me talk to her, _I begged. _Don't you think I need some contact with her, even when I'm forced to share a body with you? Couldn't you just tell her what I want to say?_

_Hmm, let me think about it. No, _the Yeerk said, making a knife slice open my side and rip out my heart.

_I promise I won't--_

_I said no. What more do you want, Debra? I can't give you anything without the Visser's permission, remember? Not that I would want to, but you know how things are. Alright? Now, just shut up and let me do what I need to do._

The Yeerk walked over to Visser Three, the Andalite body so menacing and powerful, it made me cringe inwardly.

"Visser Three," my voice addressed the Andalite. The creature turned to look at me. "I have brought you an Andalite Bandit. She is already in a cage with others, but don't worry -- she has no way to escape. If she morphed into something small she would be trampled, and if she morphed something large, we would catch her easily. Her name is Jasmine Peters, the one we were waiting for with this woman's body."

(I know the details!) the Visser snapped. I always thought he had a bad temper. (Which cage is she in now? Show me!) he added, incredibly impatiently.

_Oh yeah, he'll be a great world leader, _I mentioned sarcastically. _If he manages to stay quiet when someone spells "expialadocious" wrong._

_How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?! _the Yeerk demanded.

_I don't know. Let's try it once more to see if it works. Whaddya say, buddy?_

_Shut up, _he snapped, as if it would work. I realized that I was being immature, but really, who cares when you can annoy a Yeerk enough to get killed? _Or would you prefer death?_

_Death? Oh come on, don't you dare underestimate me like that. I'm not stupid you know: if you kill me, you'll die too because you won't have a body._

_Unless I find another one as soon as I kill you. Really, don't insult me._

He was walking my body toward a cage by orders from Visser Three and we were almost there. I had to contain myself until we arrived, or I would be in deeper trouble than I already was -- which was way over my head.

That was when I saw her. She was sitting with her back to us, with a boy I didn't know. Had she made friends already? In a Yeerk Pool? I had no idea it was possible, but knowing Jamie, she could make friends anywhere, even in imminent danger. I would have laughed if I could -- it was too good to be true. This meant she could possibly get out! If she made enough friends, she could form a rebellion and escape!

_Naïve fool, _the Yeerk spat at me. _A rebellion? Against all of these Yeerks? Don't tell me that after all of this, you still have hope? Really, it's pathetic, the way you can still convince yourself that there is some chance that you will escape._

Even though I knew he was right, I argued my point with, _No. Jamie escaped twice. I know she can save us somehow, and if she can't save me, I'll have her kill me. You know I'm not bluffing. I _will_ get her to kill me._

_I know, _it replied solemnly. _Don't worry; I can fix that._

I knew exactly what that meant without having to ask: he would get Jamie and make her into a Controller. No, I couldn't let that happen!

I tried to move my hand to do something, anything! I knew it was futile, it was hopeless, but my maternal instinct kicked in and I knew I had to protect my daughter! I was fighting to hard, fighting for my life and the life of my daughter, which I knew was coming to a close if I didn't do something. I tried to move my hand, desperately visualizing my hand, or even my fingers to move, to clench themselves into a fist and hit something -- Visser Three. No, he would kill me. I had to do something! Hurry up, idiot! Do something!

I felt my finger twitch and suddenly had a glimmer of hope -- until I felt the Yeerk fighting back. It was trying to gain control, trying to stop me from doing anything drastic, or stupid, to get us both killed.

(Yeerk,) the Andalite-Controller addressed me. (What are you waiting for? Open the door!) His voice was harsh and sharp and pierced my mind with hate as his bullets. Oh, how I wanted to hit him!

"I'm sorry, Visser. The host was fighting and I had to control her." I could feel the Yeerk gaining control again and weakening me. I could feel its grip on me tightening, but I knew that anything I did would be futile; useless. I was useless; I may as well be dead.

I couldn't help her. If I couldn't help my daughter, what use was I? What could I do that wasn't destructive, which could help Jamie escape?

**XXX**

(Rachel's POV)

"Have we looked absolutely everywhere we can think of?" Jake asked. He was pacing around the barn like some confused rodent trying to get out of a maze. He was giving me a headache and I wanted him to stop.

"Yes," Marco confirmed for the thirtieth time, sounding exhausted. He was sitting at the back of the barn with me, who was sitting reluctantly beside him. It was depressing, it really was.

"Have we gone around and asked about her? Have we described her -- in detail?" he added, sounding more frustrated than worried. "Have we searched around the Gardens, around everywhere we could think of?"

"Yes, Jake," I sighed at him. "Honestly, I even saw Chapman walking around, and I followed him. He didn't go anywhere but to his house. Are you happy now?"

Jake turned to me, eyes intent on burning my skin. "Why would I be happy?" he demanded. "The best ally we have is with the Yeerks right now, and we don't know if she's become a Controller or not -- again! -- or if she's just waiting to become one! Do you have any idea how horrible it would be for the _Mystery Hunter _to be a Controller, and _not_ be able to get out of it? Do you realize how horrible it would be for us, the Animorphs, if we were tracked down by her?"

"You're starting to sound like Marco!" I snapped suddenly, making it blatantly obvious to him how annoying he was right then.

"Jake, she's right," Marco agreed. "The only reason sounding like me is a bad thing, of course, is because there really can only be one Marco the Mighty. The other reason is that I'm a total cynic."

We all looked at Cassie now, who looked defeated, but shrugged and stood up to go talk to him. She was the only one he would listen to. "Jake," she said, standing in front of him now. He stopped pacing as soon as he saw her. "We really need you right now. We're at a dead end about James, and we need a new angle. We need you to think clearly right now." He just stared at her for a moment, then turned away angrily.

"I'm trying to think clearly! I am thinking clearly!" he said in his low, angry voice. "I just don't know where to start next. We need a new beginning. We need somewhere she's been millions of times before that we haven't look at yet."

Cassie grabbed his arms and turned him to face her. She looked kindly, but firmly into his eyes and a flicker of pain crossed her face; she hated to see him in this state.

(Have we looked at her house yet?) Ax asked. Of course, why wasn't it the first thing we thought of?

"It won't be open," Jake countered. "That's why we discarded that option before: we don't have the key and Dana doesn't either. Her mom's a Controller, so she'd never let us in; plus she's not there."

(What if it's open?) Tobias offered.

"Yeah, like that's gonna happen," Marco said in his normal cynical tone. "Come on, do you really think their mom would leave the door wide open for us when she took Jamie? She wouldn't want us snooping around for clues."

"Are you so sure about that?" I asked. "Her mom could have had control at the time. She could have left it open for us, knowing that we -- as in the Andalite Bandits -- would want to look for our best ally."

"Uh, guys," Cassie pointed out, "From what I've heard, I don't think Yeerks are that great for thinking ahead. She must have left it open just because the Yeerk forgot or something."

"She's right," Jake said, turning to the rest of us again. "Yeerks are too arrogant, and they never think ahead, unless it's something obvious that can be found easily -- like a body. We need to get to that house."

Twenty minutes later, we were at the house of Jamie, having demorphed from birds to humans/Andalite to human in a matter of minutes. We stepped up to the door, making sure there was no one around, as well as trying to look nonchalant as we did. We all stood there, waiting for the worst.

"Rachel?" Marco invited me, "Would you do the honors?" He stepped back jokingly and I rolled my eyes.

"How lame can you get, Marco?" I asked, but stepped forward anyway.

"A lot lamer than that," Tobias informed me as I pressed my hand to the doorknob.

I turned, and to my astonishment, it opened. "Well, what a surprise," I mocked, "The Mighty Marco was wrong about something for once."

He shrugged in response and stepped past me. "No matter what you think, I'm not perfect, Rachel."

I grinned and stepped in after him, straight into the living room. There were obvious signs of a struggle. A lamp previously on a desk beside the door was knocked over and broken, a window had a crack in it, and the wall had a hole in it on the other side of the room. Wow, James really did put up a good fight. I realized I was admiring her, and tried to stop it, but I couldn't. No matter how evil she may be, she would always be the Mystery Hunter, and there was no way I could change that. Which was a fact I hated.

"Blood," Tobias announced, almost as soon as he stepped in the door.

We all turned and looked toward him. He was standing next to the lamp, which I now noticed had some blood on the of broken glass that were strewn across the floor. There was also some blood on the carpet, probably from whoever it hit.

"That must have hurt," Cassie said in her empathetic way. I grimaced in agreement.

"But who did it hit?" Marco wondered.

"Jamie," Jake said. We all looked at him curiously, like he had been there or something. "It was obviously her mom who dragged her out of here after, so we're going to look for an unconscious girl and a woman carrying her on the streets. We'll come back tomorrow and ask around." He started to walk away when Ax piped up.

"Prince Jake, how do we know that? It could have been Jamie who hit her mother with the lamp."

"Well if it was, she's not at the Yeerk Pool, she's somewhere else. So this is the only thing we have to go on, Ax. We need to stick with it," Jake countered.


	20. Pool

I'm really sorry I haven't posted anything yet, but I've been really busy, with school mostly - exams you know. Thank you for reading and reviewing to my story and I hope to hear from you the readers more! Please tell me what you think. I'll be happy, even though I have betrayed you and didn't post for how long now? Anyway, it's here now, so enjoy and don't complain or I'll be mad... but at least tell me what you think and what I need to fix! Thank you! XD!!

**XXX XXX XXX **

**Chapter 19**

**Pool**

(Rachel's POV)

We asked around for about three hours the next day, but didn't find anything. No one on the block or anywhere around had seen a woman carrying out a limp girl's body over her shoulder or a large sac or anything. We were in Jamie's house again, and the whole time we were there, I felt physically sick from being in her house.

"Well maybe she went out the back alley with her," Marco suggested for about the fiftieth time. Jeez, he even had me hopeful by now, considering all the times he's said it.

"Marco, just give it up!" I snapped impatiently. "We've been over this, how many times now? There is no garage in the back, let alone a car!"

"That could be because she took it, Rachel," he retorted as rudely as I did. "Not everyone can fly, you know."

"Well she probably had enough time to," Jake added. "But we still don't know where it went." He looked at me now, with his business-like eyes digging holes in my skin. "So until we know anything for sure, we can't rule anything out. OK?" He looked around at all of us, as if he wasn't pointedly talking to me.

Cassie nodded with everyone else, as if she knew she was leading their actions. I rolled my eyes and let the discussion go on, somehow.

"We need to ask around one more time," said Jake after a long discussion about where that woman could have taken Jamie, and why no one would have seen her. We decided it was at night, which was why no one saw them, because all the people on the block were either asleep or distracted. They were all over thirty on this block, so Jamie would have stuck out like a sore thumb, but when it came to night, she was in serious danger. She might even be a Controller by now, but we didn't want to go down that road.

"Jake, we already did that," Marco moaned, "We've been doing that for the entire morning! Can't we try a different approach?"

"Marco, I think this is our only chance at this point," Cassie said.

"I concur," Ax agreed. He and Tobias were both in their human morphs. "I may be able to fly above with Tobias to search for some sort of sign, but I doubt we would find anything." I could tell he was trying hard to stop himself from adding "thing. Th-uh-ing-uh. Aannyythhiinngg-uh."

"Good," Jake said, nodding in his business-like way. "Make sure to look out for blood. Like we went over before, if she was bleeding in here, she would be bleeding out there. You might not see much, but keep a look out for even the tiniest drops. Got it?"

"Yeah," Tobias agreed with his abnormally stiff face. Feathers immediately started appearing on his clothes and skin, and he started to shrink. As if on cue, Jake looked at the rest of us as Ax started morphing to an Andalite.

"Let's go," he said, and we all headed for the door.

Yet another long, long session of trying to round up answers to use against the Yeerks and to regain an ally. Remember: not a friend, an ally… but that really made me wonder if we ever could be friends again. I guess I had forgiven her, somewhat, but it was deep down in the pit of my stomach, where I kept everything I didn't want to see or feel anymore. Just like her.

We all split up and asked around some more. I looked up at the sky once in awhile to see if I could see Tobias and Ax, but saw only clouds and blue sky and yellow sun, and big brown and grey buildings climbing over my head to touch the graceful canvas above.

I sighed and headed toward my first victim. It was a homeless man with a beard and ragged clothes, along with a sign that read "Will eat for money." I almost laughed. Who did he think was stupid enough to fall for that? Maybe it was a joke and he wasn't really homeless. Whatever. Right now he was my only hope.

"Excuse me, but have you seen a woman, maybe with an unconscious girl around here anywhere? Maybe you saw them last night, if you were around by any chance?" I asked, putting on a fake persona of being a sweet, innocent girl looking for a friend.

"What's it to you?" the man asked. It seemed that if I wasn't going to give him anything, I may as well leave. Well, too bad for him, I'm not very passive.

"The unconscious girl would be my friend and she might by dead by now." Or worse. "And if you don't let me know what you know, I swear, I'll…" What could I do? I wasn't in martial arts, and I couldn't fight properly… but I could scare him into submission with a hideous mix between an elephant and a human. But if he was a Controller… oh never mind. A Yeerk wouldn't want to take over a homeless person. The parasite would suffer as much as the host in that case.

"You'll what?"

"I'll infect you," I said, feeling my hand swell enormously as I put it toward his face. He took one look at it and shuddered, apparently unaware of the damage it could do to his dirty face. "Are you gonna tell me now?"

"You should really get that looked at," he told me nervously, and I scowled. I put my inflated hand closer to his face and looked straight at his face as he recoiled in disgust and horror, and made a revolted face.

"I am. You're looking at it." I shoved it in his face again, and glared into his pathetically frightened eyes. It was a swollen hand, and he was acting like it was diseased with some contaminant… then again, how should he know that it was just a morphed hand?

"Alright, alright. I don't need anything in return," he said. Good; Now we were getting somewhere. "I saw a woman carrying around someone who looked unconscious. She was bleeding from the head; the woman said she was taking her to the hospital, and she asked where it was."

"What did the girl look like?"

"She had dark hair and was white. She looked fit, about 5'3". Anything else?"

"Yeah. Where's the hospital?"

He pointed to his right and said, "Just go down this road a few blocks and you'll see it right away. You just need to go straight, the whole way."

I smiled satisfactorily and let my hand slowly shrink back to normal size. Man, it really was disgusting when it was swollen like that. "Thanks. Here's something you can use." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill to hand to him. He had earned it for saving someone's life. I considered that he could use it for something bad, like drugs or something, but I doubted that, since he looked pretty lanky and gaunt and his sign said "Will eat for money". No drug dealer would make a sign like that. Maybe it would be something like "Will smoke for money", but not the one he had.

"You earned it," I explained, and smiled at him as I walked away. I looked up and saw a red-tailed hawk flying around above me and nodded, completely unknowledgeable about it being Tobias or not until it replied to me.

(Good work, Rachel.)

I winked up to the sky and smiled again, a discreet motion that no one would think oddly of, or even suspiciously in a Yeerk's case._Thanks, _I thought up to him, although I knew he couldn't hear it.

**XXX**

"Ah!" I screamed in agony and held my hand in place as it swelled to an enormous size. It was so utterly painful! "Ah, what's happening?" I cried, desperately trying to rip it off, but not really because that would be even more painful. Fortunately, the reminder of the flies resting on top of my head distracted me from it.

"What happened?" a doctor asked as she ran up to me with an odd sort of enthusiasm. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." I stumbled over my words as I tried to hold myself up. "I-I think it's bleeding!"

(What? Where's the blood?) Marco's voice. _Shut up now, dufus!_

"I think it might be bleeding on the inside," I cried, and screamed again as pain convulsed through my entire arm… supposedly. It swelled rapidly and I shook it as if to make it slow down. Crap, it was turning grey. I stopped concentrating on the elephant as my skin slowly turned grey and leathery.

"Oh, my gosh!" the woman doctor cried in horror as she saw what was happening.

(And I wondered why I was against this… at least now my worries are confirmed,) Jake muttered to me quietly.

_You shut up too._

Another doctor came in, a man this time, and took me in his arms, guiding me urgently into a ward. Good. Hopefully it was the right one. "What are the symptoms?" he asked.

"You're looking at them, doc," the woman said, before I could.

"Intense pain…" I gasped as if to demonstrate this.

(Swelling, obviously,) Cassie pointed out.

_Gee, thanks for that._

"Swelling, it's turning grey… it might be bleeding internally. Ow!" I cried out necessarily as "pain" shot up my arm and made it "convulse". Really I just jerked my arm and made it knock out some guy's coffee as he walked by. "And… dizziness."

"Convulsions," the doctor added. "The circulation is probably cut off, which is why it's turning grey… I think…" He started yelling at some doctors somewhere in there. "Get Dr. Tyman! Now! Someone get Dr. Tyman! It's an emergency!"

(Dr. Tyman?) Tobias wondered, (I've heard that name before. He was a vet at the clinic a few years ago. He babysat me when my aunt or uncle were out.)

(OK, so he's a pet-sitter as well as a vet and a human doctor,) Marco teased, (This guy's like the male Barbie: he can do everything!)

(I find it funny that _you, Marco, _compare _him_ to a doll. Aren't you the pretty boy?) Tobias shot back for the pet-sitter comment. He could hold his own. I almost laughed, but quickly changed it into a cough, followed by a scream as my new doctor came rushing in with a nurse.

_Nice one, Toby._

"Come on, let's get you to the ward. We have to hurry, it's getting bad," the doctor holding me said. I stumbled toward Dr. Tyman and the nurse, letting the doctor lead me toward them, only just hanging onto my dead weight.

(You're doing great, Rache. Keep it up,) Cassie complimented me.

_Thanks._

(You are quite an impressive actor,) Ax added. I stumbled in response, almost to mock the doctors virtually holding me up now.

_Thanks again._

(Everyone memorize the landmarks and plan an escape route,) Jake ordered as we walked down the hall.

(Got it,) everyone answered one by one.

I really needed to get these flies out of my hair. They were freaking annoying! But they were also the reason I was here: to get them into the ward and through door to the Yeerk Pool. I was backup this time, unfortunately, unable to join in on the good stuff. Jake said I was "too reckless" and they needed to be subtle today. Too bad. I was really hoping to get a few punches in there… as a grizzly, that is. But I was able to fake being sick, which was also fun.

_This had better be our man, _I thought as I stumbled toward the room I was being lead to.

He lead me in and closed it behind me as I was set down on the bed by unseen hands. He helped me lay down so my head was on the pillow and my feet dangled over the end of the bed.

"Now, are you alright?" he asked me as I lay there. I was panting like a woman about to give the last push to contribute to the birth of her child and writhing in pain as it happened. It made no sense to me that my hand would hurt me so badly, but I had to think of something, right?

"Yes," I whimpered. As he reached for my hand I screamed and tore it away from him and rolled over onto my side.

"What's your name?" he asked calmly.

(This is definitely our boy; what kind of a doctor asks you what your name is in a time of crisis?) Marco wondered.

(Uh, the kind that wants to calm you down?) Tobias suggested sarcastically, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. It did make sense.

"K-Kate," I stuttered, trying to keep up the act.

"Good. I'm very proud of you, Kate, I'm impressed. Not many people can withstand the kind of pain that you're going through right now. You're a real trooper."

_I've survived a lot more than you know, doc._

"But I need you to cooperate with me, alright? I need you to keep resisting that pain and give me your hand so I can see what's wrong with it, OK?" He reached for my hand again and this time, I only screamed when he touched it instead of pulling it away.

(Good job, Rachel; you get a raise,) Jake joked only to me. I almost laughed, but held it back this time. It wasn't because it was funny, but mostly because he had just made a joke, and that was out of character.

_By how much? _He couldn't hear me though, so he didn't answer, of course. I had to be in morph to use actual thought-speak; otherwise it was just me thinking.

The doctor examined my hand and as I watched I became more and more nervous. His reactions to my practically-exploding hand were so faint and so subtle that he seemed almost too calm to be human. He couldn't have been human.

At last he looked at me, his brow furrowed. Then his eyes widened at me as he realized what I really was and I realized the same thing about him: this was our man.

"What?" I inquired, repeating the cue we had thought of earlier for the others to be ready. "Never seen an Andalite Bandit before?" With that, I swung my swollen elephant hand around toward his head, but he blocked it and grabbed my wrist at the same time. He swung me around so I hit the wall face-first and slammed my body against it. I cried out in pain as he twisted my arm around behind my back and pulled up to make my shoulder feel like it was about to be popped out of place.

(Rachel, what's going on? Do you need us?) Tobias asked urgently.

(We'll only go if you say "yes",) Jake added.

"No!" I screamed; the last thing I wanted was for my closest friends to be caught with me. He shoved me onto the bed again, and before I had time to get up, he was on top of me, punching me in the face and making my blood stain the sheets.

"Demorph!" he yelled at me.

"No."

"Demorph!" he screamed, and punched me in the face again.

"No."

"Demorph!" He punched me again. "Don't be stupid girl, you don't want your human friend to die, do you? Or even worse…" He decided it would be fun if he punched me again and that's what he did.

"No!" I spat in his face this time.

"Do it!"

(Rachel, we're coming whether you like it or not now!) Jake yelled at me, and I felt five little creatures leap out of my hair and start buzzing around his head. Dr. Tyman screamed in surprise and backed away from me, not wanting flies in his face. He started swatting at them and waving his arms around frantically, as if thinking they would sting him. I took this opportunity to close in on him with a fist to the solar plexus and make him double over in pain after grunting a swear. When he couldn't get up again, I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shoved him onto the bed, straddling him angrily, fist in the air as I held his face up to mine, ready to strike.

"Tell me," I seethed, "Where is it? What did you do with her? Where is Jamie? Where is the Yeerk Pool?"

There were faint, sickening noises behind me of crunching bones and switching guts. I refused to look away and ruin my chance with this man. When he didn't answer, I shook him, yelling, "Tell me!"

I knew what they were doing behind me and I knew it wasn't pretty: they were demorphing and morphing different animals quickly so Dr. Tyman wouldn't see their human bodies -- of course, Ax and Tobias had nothing to worry about in that area. He was the only one though.

"Tell me!" I yelled again.

He snarled at me, making me punch him again. I shook my fist out when I saw that it had blood on it and an indentation from his teeth. "I said--" He faced me again, his face a vision of gore as he stared at me. I had seen worse, though, so I was completely unphased.

"Fine, alright, alright," he panted, shoving me off of him. I landed beside Marco the gorilla, and he helped me up as if I couldn't do it myself. I thanked him silently, but would never do that out loud any time soon -- or at all.

He stopped at the sight of all the animals -- the tiger, the gorilla, the wolf, the hawk, the Andalite, and me and my now-normal hand.

"Show us," I ordered sternly. "Or I'll sick the Siberian on you." I jerked my head toward Jake, and after that I wiped my bloody, sore nose on my sleeve and then spat on the ground, and noticed that my saliva was red.

Nervously, he walked over to the wall, Ax and Cassie making way for him to pass through, though Cassie growled at him and snapped her teeth in his fragile direction. He jumped on his way by her and I smirked.

He put his hand the button to call the nurses and pressed it. There was an odd buzzing in the corner of the room behind me and we all turned to look at it except Jake, who kept those beautiful amber eyes on Dr. Tyman as he slowly made way through the path made for him by Cassie and Aximilli. He lifted the stethoscope and pulled on the hanger it had been on; the wall behind it began to slide open like in those old Indiana Jones movies. He stood aside after that so we could get past. Tobias went first, who was flying above all of us. Marco and Cassie went in second, followed by the doctor and me. We were followed by Ax and Jake in the back to make sure he did no funny business. There was a flight of stairs in front of us and we all climbed down, everyone else in their main morphs, but I had no desire to morph at that moment -- at least not with Tyman watching.

There was another flight of stairs before we were in the soothing darkness of the Yeerk Pool. There shouts and cries for help were terrifying. I imagined Jamie as a Controller and shuddered; she would be able to control it right? After she killed two of them they wouldn't _want _to be in her head, would they, for fear of their lives?

We stepped down onto the concrete of the Yeerk Pool floor, and instantly all the attention was turned toward us. There were Hork-Bajir and other unmistakable alien races lying dead on the floors, blood pools forming around them, having died gruesome deaths.

There was a creature crouching in the middle of the perfect circle formed by dead aliens, neon blue wings wrapped tightly around its body like a shield, so we couldn't see what it really was. Visser Three was standing on the outside of the circle, looking terrified for someone with hardly any face.


	21. Before They Came

**Chapter 20**

**Before They Came**

(Jamie's POV. A few minutes before the Animorphs came down into the Pool.)

(Yeerk! What are you waiting for? Open the door!) the Visser yelled at my mother.

"Yes, Visser," she answered humbly - a little too humbly in my opinion. She stepped forward and grasped the lock between her hands while bringing out a silver key with a purple ring on the end of it, which was held by my mother's hand. She placed the key into the keyhole to turn and thus opened the cage. We all swayed to one side as everyone moved to the back of the cage so as not to be taken and made into a host once again. Tom and I joined them at the back, where only the ones who climbed in could reach us.

"Just stay close to me," I heard someone whisper to a little kid, who was holding on to who I supposed was his mother. "Just stay close, OK? Don't let them get to you, or they'll hurt you. You'll be fine with me." The little kid whimpered and huddled closer to the woman for dear life, and I didn't blame him. At this moment, I wouldn't be so mad if my mom was as clingy as she normally was. If she was actually here with me… would it be so bad?

The cage swayed once more as someone climbed up - probably a Hork-Bajir or another alien - though I couldn't see who or what it was from where I stood amongst the crowd. They were all taller than I was, which sucked for me.

"Part!" ordered a Hork-Bajir's voice right on cue. Everyone made a pathway to the end of the cage, separating me and Tom; great, now I really was alone. The Hork-Bajir continued: "Bandit. Forward."

My breath caught in my throat. Did he just say "bandit forward"? My heart throbbed and I stood still for a few moments, the tension in my mind building to a cloud. What was about to happen? They wanted me, I knew, but I couldn't even see where the part in the crowd was, let alone where to go.

"Bandit," the alien repeated, "Forward."

I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe. _OK, just stay calm James, there is nothing huge to worry about here. And if there is, you know you can get out of it. They already know you can morph, so if they try anything stupid, you do the same thing. OK? _I opened my eyes and changed them back to normal, so I wasn't seeing Gotika-style anymore, and if they saw my eyes, they would know I was blind. I had to wait for someone to say something else now, so I would know where to go. For a few moments, there was silence, then I heard my mother's voice.

"Jamie! Wherever you are, come out now! We're done playing games. Just come out and your punishment won't be as horrible as planned."

I scoffed quietly and decided to call out, " 'Won't be as horrible as planned'? What, do you think I'm stupid, slug? You're going to make me a Controller again, whether I like it or not! It wasn't a choice for these poor suckers and it's not a choice for me!" Ultimately, I was just trying to make her continue talking so I would be able to follow her voice to the middle of the path and stop there, only to be face to face with her.

"Oh?" her voice inquired. I took a few steps forward and waited for her to continue. "And what makes you think that?" During that sentence, I took the liberty of shoving through a couple people, which resulted in me landing right in the middle of the path.

"It wasn't my choice the last two times," I said, moving toward her. I stopped right in front of her, hearing her breath and feeling it faintly on my face. I backed up a little so I couldn't smell her breath anymore; it was disturbing.

"Well maybe it's changed," she said as she grabbed my arm to take me to Visser Three.

"Oh please," I said, reluctantly cooperating. I wanted so badly to strike this slug down and get my mom back, but that would be stupid and it would mean I had horrible timing. "He's monotone. Guys like that never change."

"I meant your options," the woman seethed. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh of course they have. I have one more now: die or become a Controller... hmmm... wait a minute, wasn't that there before though?" I purred sarcastically. With that, I was shoved out of the cage, falling face-down on the floor, presumably in front of Visser Three. I grunted in pain as my ribs hit he cement floor.

(Stand up, filthy Bandit,) he snapped. I deliberately took my time standing just in case he decided to kill me on the spot. (Stand up,) he cried, his voice harsher this time.

A Hork-Bajir grabbed my stomach under me and hauled me up crudely. It placed me roughly on my feet, letting me wobble there for a moment before letting me go. It then grabbed my arm and pushed me forward. I had to bring my feet up to match my front because I hadn't been ready to walk yet.

OK, I realized what I had to do now, and I couldn't hear many creatures around us, only about five or so Hork-Bajir, which were "escorting" me to my destination. So much for different options.

My tail slowly emerged from my spine and my vision came back in a hurry. Everything was clear now, and I could see that we were on our way to the Yeerk Pool, as I suspected. Great. I had to do this quickly then. I felt scales climb up from my feet to cover my entire body. I made the wings come very slowly so as not to attract too much attention--

"Visser! She's morphing!" I heard a man's voice cry out. He turned his stalked eyes on me and I immediately ripped myself away from the Hork-Bajir escorting me. He wasn't ready for it, so it caught him off guard when I shoved him aside and backed deliberately into the next alien. As my hair lightened into the smoky-blue-green colour, the creature grabbed me to hold me still, as the Visser advanced on me as if to show what he could really do. Unfortunately, the alien I rushed into had been ready for me.

(You really are pathetic. You'll stoop to anything that can get you out of this, won't you?) His voice seemed to echo in my head as he stared at me with all four eyes, black and hollow.

"Anything that'll stop me from becoming a Controller again? Obviously, idiot. Just ask your host; does he enjoy being-- ah!" I cried out in pain as the scythe-like blade on the end of his tail struck deeply into my right shoulder and stayed there. I gasped as the pain elevated as he dug his tail in more.

(You will cooperate,) he ordered slowly.

"And if I don't?" I grunted.

He leaned in now, putting even more pressure on the gaping hole he had just placed in my shoulder. I hissed in agony and turned my head the other way when he shoved his face in mine. (What do you think, human?)

I didn't bother answering, but stared right into his eyes, challenging him. He took his tail out of my shoulder, not pestering me for an answer because he knew I knew the answer, and I grunted and hissed in agony as he turned away after telling the Hork-Bajir to let go of me. Visser Three stepped out of the circle of five Hork-Bajir as they all surrounded me toward the Pool.

I couldn't take this anymore. I knew what kind of danger I was in, but I would rather die than give away the secrets of the Animorphs. I had to do something stupid right about now, before they took control.

We stopped, and I felt my body being shoved forward, toward the Yeerk Pool. I hadn't morphed back yet, so I still had all the features of the Gotika I'd had before the Andalite attacked me.

"Get down," a Hork-Bajir ordered me. I struggled to stay up, and managed to elbow the creature in the stomach, but no matter how much it hurt my elbow, it did absolutely nothing to the Hork-Bajir. Crap.

I gave another one a vicious roundhouse to the waist, but it still did nothing, and it was getting frustrating. The creatures were all ganging up on me now, and I knew Visser Three was watching this and laughing inwardly, if not out loud. I was really mad by now, having fought and failed at fighting with the Hork-Bajir, which were now trying to hold me down so I would become a Controller again. But that wouldn't happen. I wouldn't let it happen!

I struggled with everything I had, but it was completely futile! This wasn't working, and I would become one of them again!

A flare of hot coals erupted inside me and I found myself screaming in mixed emotions as my tail involuntarily whipped round and sliced all of the creatures in half. I could feel their lime-green blood spatter on my wings as they wrapped around me and the aliens all fell, dead, on the floor.

(Rachel's POV)

We stepped down onto the concrete of the Yeerk Pool floor and the first thing we saw was definitely not pretty. There were Hork-Bajir and other unmistakable alien races lying dead on the floor, blood pools forming around them, having died gruesome deaths.

There was a creature crouching in the middle of the perfect circle formed by dead aliens, neon blue wings wrapped tightly around its body like a shield, so we couldn't see what it really was. Visser Three was standing on the outside of the circle, looking terrified for someone with hardly any face.

(Jake…) I heard Cassie gasp in horror.

(I see it,) he replied, just as horrified. (What is that thing?)

(It appears to be a Gotika,) Ax offered, (But they are said to be a peaceful race, unable to do something so horrible unless under attack.)

(Well then I guess we know why it happened,) Marco said, (She didn't want to be a Controller, so she… well, you know…) he finished awkwardly.

"Yeah," I said, slinking into the shadows and morphing a grizzly bear. (Now what?) I asked no one in particular. Possibly Jake.

(Rachel, you go talk to James, while the rest of us hold off the Yeerks,) Jake answered.

(Got it,) I replied without argument, while the rest of them left to hold off the Controllers. I ran toward Jamie just as she stood up and unfurled her wings to reveal the real Gotika. This was the real Jamie? I had to admit, it was… impressive, at the least. I stopped when she did this, but I had no idea why. Maybe I was intimidated... funny.

When she spoke her voice was metallic, and rough. She was speaking to Visser Three. "I'll die before I let you kill the Andalite Bandits and take over the Earth!" she yelled, her metallic voice echoing throughout the area.

(Fool! Do you honestly think you can beat my species? We have been around so much longer than you can even imagine and we are stronger than anything you have ever encountered!) Visser Three screamed back at her. (And it does not matter what you do, because no matter what, I will find them! Do you understand?)

"Of course I understand! But I don't believe you!"

(Why--) he began, but she cut him off by yelling at him.

"Your arrogance will be your undoing!" she screamed. "I just killed five of your Hork-Bajir in half a second! You really think you're stronger than me? Try me!"

_Oh no, bad move James. He'll pummel you with your own words! _I thought desperately, moving forward to stop whatever was going to happen next. I had to be fast.

The Andalite screamed the Yeerk's rage and moved forward to kill her. He raised his tail to gain momentum, and brought it down in a flash, and I was completely unable to see it.

(Nooo!) I found myself screaming, and rushing forward to save her, but at the same time, I knew it was no use!


	22. Escalate

_**Chapter 21**_

_**Escalate**_

_My scream attracted her attention for only a second before she turned back to Visser Three - but it was too late. The blade struck her square in the chest and blood came spitting out of her mouth involuntarily. It looked like a crimson fountain erupting from her mouth and chest as she fell backward, slamming onto the ground, immobilized and possibly dead._

_(No!) I screamed, rushing toward the Visser in my rage. I leapt when I was sure I reached him, although it was hard to tell with my poor vision. He stepped out of the way as soon as he saw me coming and I landed beside him on my stomach, feeling more foolish than ever. But my incredible rage compensated for it. I grunted in pain and stood up quickly before he took a step forward and his tail struck the place I was before._

_(Rachel!) I heard Jake yell at me, (What are you doing?)_

_I didn't answer and merely lumbered toward Visser Three again, ignoring everything else around me. The Visser stood his ground this time and shoved his tail toward me, both in defense and in cold blood, as he had done to Jamie. He pierced my many layers of skin, fat and fur and I dropped to the ground in front of him with a deafening roar. I was stupid; why had I thought that I could beat him? His tail was lightning fast and every time I saw him use it, I never did see the actual tail. It would obviously too fast for me, especially as a grizzly._

_I tried to get up, but my leg was bleeding so badly, and its muscles had been pierced too deeply to be able to function anymore; I was losing blood fast. Visser Three laughed coldly, mocking me._

_(You're equally as pathetic as that Gotika was! No wonder you two are working together: you cannot even challenge me properly, let alone defeat me!) he cried out so everyone could hear. Then louder, to announce what he had done as if it were some kind of trophy for the Yeerks, he cried out, (And I have killed your ally, the Gotika!)_

_(That's only __after _she killed five of your Hork-Bajir in a split second!) I yelled back, then felt the full pain of the effort through my leg. The Visser stood over me now, and I was helpless to do anything about it except watch as he mocked me just as he had mocked Elfangor. He raised his tail menacingly above me. The muscles in both our bodies tensed; I braced myself for intense agony and he braced his tail for impact. He was going to kill me. I had to--

"No." Her voice was hoarse and weak, like Elfangor's had been right before he died. "Don't… Don't touch that bear, slug." I looked over to see Jamie rising from her bloody area, but her movements were slow, as if every creaking muscle was agonizing. She had been stabbed in the chest - she should be dead! But she wasn't a Gotika anymore; she was in human form... But she had her head down. Although I guess it didn't really matter since she couldn't see anyway. She stood and wiped her own blood from her mouth and black jumpsuit before turning on the Andalite. "I will kill you if you do anything to her."

(Oh? And how will you achieve that? Throwing a knife at me? How can you do that when you cannot even see, you pitiful creature?) he demanded.

I was wondering how stupid she really was when a knife hit him square in the right shoulder, the impact and pain making him take a small step back. He winced a little, but it was hardly visible as he laughed mockingly again and said, (You missed, blind one. Perhaps another time.) I could hear the sickening humor in his voice as he stepped toward her, but another came whizzing toward him and this one went right above his left shoulder, slicing open a small wound in his cheek. He wiped away a speck of Andalite blood this time.

"I meant to catch your shoulder, idiot. I'm not going to kill you right off the bat, that would be merciful. After what you've done to this earth, you don't deserve anything close to mercy. You deserve to suffer, and I know exactly how to keep you from morphing, so whatever you do, you can't escape. Sounds fun, doesn't it?" She looked up now and I saw her eyes: blue-ish-green with a grey tinge. She had slit black pupils on top of that; it was anything but normal. Beautiful and impressive, but not normal. _Could these be the eyes of a Gotika? _I wondered groggily.

My body and my instincts all told me to demorph to human and be instantly healed, but in my head, I remembered vaguely saying that "I would rather die than show the Yeerks what the Animorphs really are". It made sense, even at a moment of crisis like this, but I was losing so much blood that I almost didn't know what to do; it's surprising how much blood can escape from one person's body. I looked down at my leg and saw a great pool of thick, crimson liquid forming around it, and some soaking my great grizzly's furry brown leg as well.

(Rachel!) I heard vaguely in my head.

"Oh, hello?" I greeted groggily, but it came out more as a growl. (Hello?) I corrected myself.

(Rachel, are you okay?) the tiger asked me, sounding… how did he sound? Like… Jake.

(Uh-huh,) I said, and my vision blurred a little, mixing his orange fur with his black fur… did a tiger have orange stripes or black stripes? Maybe it was neither. I tried to move, but the pain in my leg exploded through my entire body again, through the stab wound and I fell again.

(You need to demorph,) he said, (You need to do it now, while you're still alive. You'll have all of your blood and everything will be fine, just as long as you demorph, now!)

(Now?) I repeated slowly. I felt my mind slipping into unconsciousness, but there was a sense of urgency to this whole situation that I didn't seem to understand. But at the same time, there seemed to be something right under the surface that was some vague level of comprehension in this mess.

(Yes, now!) He stepped in front of me as I slowly began to picture a weirdly familiar blond girl with blue eyes. She was tall and dressed really nicely. It was me. But why was his tone so urgent? (Rachel, please, now, you're going to die otherwise.)

Oh, well that made sense. But I didn't feel like I was going to die; I felt like I was going to sleep.

I felt my leg thinning and the fur disappearing to become fine, blond hair all over my body, which was covered with a thin layer of clothing that clung tightly to my skin. It happened slowly though - too slowly for me to keep my concentration. Instead, I felt myself drifting even farther into my blissful unconsciousness.

(No!) Jake's voice yelled in my head again, (No! Rachel, no! That's bad, you don't want to sleep! Just stay with me, alright? Stay with me and don't go to sleep.)

The clash of metal on metal attracted my attention, waking me suddenly, and I looked toward where Jamie and the Visser were - or had been… now there was a creature I didn't recognize, but it had a long tail just like the Andalite's and it was in battle with the alien. They pushed each other back furiously with their magnanimously strong tails and were both suddenly on opposite sides of the floor on which they were fighting.

"The Gotiki will join this fight Visser," the unfamiliar creature sneered at the Andalite. Its voice was metallic and harsh, but somehow easy to listen to. "And then you will be no more! Your fleet will die a horrible death because of my kind! My warriors will cut you down and they will be merciless! _We _will be merciless!"

("We"!) the Andalite scoffed at the other creature, (You are hardly fit to be a warrior, Gotika! And your kind! You sound as if you are to lead these creatures into battle.)

"That's because I am. I was chosen at birth and brought to Earth to take on the appearance of Jasmine Patterson until the day that I was meant to lead them to this planet so they could fight you and destroy your armies! I will not let you get away with what you have done to this world! And neither will the Andalites," she told him, as if as a warning.

(Is that right?) the Andalite host demanded, sounding amused. (Well if you're leading them, I'll be waiting for you, personally, when you come. I'll have a present to give you.)

The beast opposite from Visser Three snarled aggressively at that and then ran at him, tail held high and wings expanded out from its body. The creature leapt into the air with its tail extended beneath it so that it stabbed the monster named Visser when it landed. But that monster moved at the very last second to let the Gotika settle beside it in a cloud of dust. The Andalite tail lashed at the Gotika so fast that I couldn't see it even move, but to the other alien it must have been in slow motion because it twitched its head in the other direction to dodge the blade on the end of the tail.

My senses were starting to pick up again, and the feeling was coming back into my limbs and joints as I began to acknowledge my surroundings once more. I noticed that the tiger was still standing in front of me, the loud orange and black coloring catching my eyes immediately. I saw the raging battle between the creatures who I now recognized to be Visser Three and the Gotika who had pretended to be one of us for all of those years without even knowing that she was pretending - Jamie. I heard sounds of battle all around me and looked now to see all of my friends in fights against aliens of a variety of different races, but mostly Hork-Bajir.

A wolf lunged at an alien's throat, knocking it down in a wave of royal purple blood. A gorilla tore apart another alien, letting lime green blood spatter everywhere before he dropped the creature's body, which was now in half, and went after another one. A red-tailed hawk dove out of the sky to tear out an alien's eyeballs, then spat them on the floor, where they shriveled and fell away into nothing. An Andalite twitched his tail and a whole Hork-Bajir exploded in a single moment, as if by some invisible force.

(Rachel,) Jake said, sounding worried. I looked at him, but dared not stand in case the Andalite-Controller saw me. (You need to get up and run as fast as you can to the nearest, darkest place you can find and morph into an elephant. We need all the firepower we can get right now."

"Got it," I whispered.

(Are you OK?) he asked me. I sent him a mock-aggravated look to show him how stupid that question was.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" I demanded, despite the fact that I was completely shaken up because I had almost died, when I thought I would have just gone to sleep! A shudder snuck up my spine and when it hit my head, it seemed to engulf my entire body, letting something resembling cold water into my veins.

(Right,) he said, sounding a little more relieved, (Now go. And hurry up.)

"Got it," I whispered to him, and stood up as soon as I could. "Cover me," I told him as I started to run.

(Visser Three's POV)

A flash of movement caught my eye, and my stalk eyes swiveled away from my opponent for a moment to see what it was. But what I saw was not like anything I had expected: a mere human girl was running out from behind one of those Earth creatures - it was black and orange with ears sticking out of its head and an elongated spine sticking out behind its legs, but it wasn't important at the moment. The human rose and began to gallop away, although it was an odd gallop. I saw it all the time, living the life I did, but I never did get used to it.

But what really bothered me was where the girl had come from: only a moment ago there had been another four-legged creature there, behind the orange and black one. Perhaps this was simply another morph of the Andalite with that form. Of course… they wouldn't fool me so easily!

I saw the Gotika coming at me again from the air, tail extended like a stinger underneath her. That seemed to be a favorite move of hers, because it worked well for her and she had already used it three times in unexpected moments. I had to watch for it more often. But instead of defending myself like I usually did, I stepped out of the way to let her land on the ground as she always did, with her wings to help, as I ran away toward the disguised Andalite. It wasn't running very fast, so I was able to catch up to it easily before it got away.

A loud snarl attracted my attention, and I saw the orange and black beast running toward me on all four legs, and at the very last second, it leapt at me, forepaws outstretched with claws extended on all four large paws, mouth open in a loud snarl, fangs and all bared. But my reflexes were fast enough to dodge it and then stab it with my razor-sharp tail in the flank. The creature roared in agony as it dropped to the ground, blood surrounding it in the first few seconds that it fell.

I stopped in front of the human and raised my tail threateningly.

(Halt, Andalite,) I ordered, holding my tail closer to the creature's throat. But it reversed its coarse, moving backward now, but slowly. (I said halt,) I repeated, taking a step forward. The creature's eyes widened in fear as I pressed my tail blade to its throat. The human froze, afraid to move because it knew what I could do with my tail; in a flash, its head could be on the other side of the room and I could be covered in her blood.

(Are you so confident now, Andalite Bandit?) I asked, seeing the Gotika coming toward us. I would have to hurry this process up now, and finish off the girl before the beast got to where we were.

"Let go of her!" the Gotika yelled angrily as it ran toward us. She leaped into the air, her wings exploding out of her back to keep her aloft as she soared toward us through the underground sky. Fury rose in me and I refused to hesitate this time; I threw my tail toward the human and cut her in the side of her stomach, creating a large gash in her side, as well as making her double over in pain as a sharp cry pierced the air.

"Rachel!" the Gotika cried. She looked down and saw the body of the tiger there, struggling for breath, struggling to move, to do anything aside from lay there and die a slow, painful death. But I did find it odd that the creature's fur was leaving its body; the process was slow, but it was happening. She gasped at the sight, but then looked at me and her eyes flashed a sharp silver colour to emphasize her rage at what I had done. "Let her go Visser! Do it now!" she screamed, and she dove down at us, landing silently beside the girl she called Rachel. That didn't sound like an Andalite's name… maybe it was the name of the Andalite's morph.

(And where are your friends?) I asked, then looked around, taunting them. (Oh, are they busy at the moment?) I laughed, looking at her. (You cannot possibly imagine that a creature of your sorts, who hasn't even been heard of for the past thousand years, could defeat me with an army of seven. For all I know, you could be the very last of your species.)

_But you don't know that, Yeerk, _my host argued with me, _she could be telling the truth. There is a reason, after all, that we haven't known about the Gotiki for thousands of years: they didn't want anyone to know that they still existed._

_Shut up, Andalite, _I ordered him in response._ I have already wasted enough time without your nonsense. If I manage to finish off this Gotika, they won't be joining the war anyway._

_Don't be so naïve! They are still able to join the war whether you kill this one or not - in fact, they will be more inclined to do so if you resort to that._

"Just because they're busy doesn't mean I can't stop you, Slug," the Gotika snapped at me. "Now let her go." She took a step forward, wings out and tail up behind her in a ready position to strike. "Don't do this, Visser. You can't do this! You've ruined so much of our world already; how much damage needs to be done before you stop?!" She was shrieking now, and her silver eyes were becoming more prominent and bright. "Who do you think will win this war if no one is left? _Huh? _What's the point of all this destruction?! Power?! Just for fun? What is it?!"

(The point,) I seethed at her, (is to create a united universe with no other species except Yeerks and their hosts! Is that so hard to understand, Gotika?)

The creature hesitated before answering. "Yes," she whispered. "Why does there have to be a united universe when half the people on this planet don't even know you exist. Is there no real reasoning behind it? Is it just another holocaust? Pointless destruction, murder? Rebellious actions against the entire universe for _no reason_?! Your kind killed my father for _no reason!?_" the girl looked up at me, her eyes filled with a rage that hadn't been seen for over two thousand years. She screamed and attacked me, coming at my host body as fast as she could, all her muscles tensed and trained reflexes ready for another battle - but in her rage and sorrow, she was blind. I caught her with my hand around her throat and my mind clutching hers as she had clutched mine to keep me from morphing.

(There is a reason,) I countered to her as she struggled to be free of my grasp. I slowly began morphing into something called a Rotarin - a jelly-like creature from a planet I had recently been to which could consume any living thing, even one that regenerates, and eat it whole. The thing it ate would suffer long and hard as it would be squeezed by the insides of the Rotarin, which were as dense as the bottom of the ocean. Even if the Gotika morphed into another creature, it would still be crushed. But apparently this Jamie girl knew all of that, because she struggled harder when I began to morph and my hand around her throat tightened dramatically. She choked and sputtered, grabbing onto my hand and even stabbing it with her tail. She struggled with her wings to fly her way out, but she wasn't able to escape.

I had her to myself now, and I could do whatever I wanted.


	23. Chapter 23

OK, you have to remember, this story of mine... yeah, this little one here... it was written so that Rachel didn't have to die. Even though I know she does, I don't want her to because she's my absolute favorite character in Animorphs, and even though I've never read that book I've seen the spoilers... they anger me. Applegate... that's just rude. Killing off Rachel. That's just wrong. Anyway, this way, in my mind, Rachel doesn't die... only she does, which kind of ruins it, but this way Jamie takes her place. But the reason I didn't tell this to you earlier is that it would just give it all away, and that wouldn't be much fun for you readers, would it? No. No it wouldn't.

Disclaimer: you know I don't own this thing, so why am I still telling you?

**XXX**

**Chapter 22**

(Rachel's POV)

My eyes fluttered open, everything blurry and unclear, but I could tell that there were faces hovering over me. A long light, like the ones you see in most building ceilings, hung above them, but that was blurry too. I felt something soft under me, with my head elevated with something even softer. I fluttered my eyes to get my vision back, and it came, but slowly. When it did, I saw the ceiling light first, and it was incredibly clear - along with my friends' faces.

Cassie, Marco, Ax, Tobias, and Jake. But they were smiling when they saw me open my eyes, and they smiled even wider when they heard me talk. I had to take something off of my face when I did talk, though, because otherwise I wouldn't be understood as well. When I looked at it, I saw that it was one of those cups that go over your face when you can't breathe on your own.

"Hi," I said weakly. "What happened?" The last thing I remembered was an incredible pain in my side and the Gotika - Jamie - screaming at Visser Three to let me go… but the memory was vague, like it had been a dream.

"You almost died," Tobias said, and when I looked at him, I felt a new sensation on my hand, but it was where no one could see.

"_He_ stabbed you," Jake said, "But James stopped him before he could do anything else. I tried to get to him, but he stabbed me in the flank and I was pretty much immobilized from then on."

"James?" I repeated, alarmed, "As in Jamie? But I thought she hated me…" Their faces became filled with sadness and when I looked at Cassie, I saw Jake put his hand in hers as tears streaked down her face. I hadn't seen it before, but she looked like she had been crying for a little while.

"Rache…" Marco began, and he looked like he was struggling as much as anyone else was - maybe a little more. Tears were threatening to slide down his cheeks as well, but he held them back with all the little bit of dignity he had. "She, um… she's dead," he told me.

The room went silent as everyone watched me for a reaction. But I didn't have one, as surprising as that was to me and everyone else - maybe I was in shock; maybe it hadn't hit me yet; maybe I was trying to deny it without my realization… no, that last one was ridiculous. But I felt nothing. My body and heart had immediately gone numb at this horrific information.

"How did it happen?" I asked. I didn't dare look at anyone for fear that they might have an expression on that told me I was an insensitive jerk, who acted like I hadn't even known Jamie, let alone cared about her well-being. But the truth was that I had cared about her - well, I had started to care about her. But whatever they may have thought, I didn't have another reaction available.

"She was crushed by a creature called a Rotarin," Ax told me, and I could tell he was fighting back the urge to repeat what he had just said, because he thought it was fun to say.

"She saved your life," Marco pointed out, "She saved all our butts."

"While Visser Three was distracted with killing her," Tobias continued, "Jake was able to demorph when no one was looking - I was able to get away for a second and let him know that no one saw. Then the other aliens got distracted with what was happening with James and the Visser, and they gave us a chance to get you and Jake. Marco grabbed you and we bolted."

"He had already swallowed her whole," Cassie said, speaking for the first time, and hers and everyone else's eyes all glazed over with the memory. "I can still--" She stopped for a moment to allow a sob to escape her mouth, but then forced herself to continue. "I can still hear her scream, as she was dropped into his mouth and…" My best friend shuddered and sobbed, and then decided to hide her face in Jake's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her for comfort.

"But - but she could get out, right?" I demanded, sounding more anxious than I had intended, "She could just cut him open from the inside! It wouldn't be that hard, especially while being a Gotika--"

"No," Ax interrupted me. I looked over at him, and actually felt something close to an emotion that I had never felt before - despair. I was at a loss.

"Why not?"

"A Rotarin crushes their prey when they swallow it. Their stomach has as much pressure as the bottom of the ocean, where only choice creatures live. I apologize, Rachel, but there was no way she could have been saved," he told me, and the despair seemed to deepen, as it already had in everyone else. Looking around, I saw not only tears in Marco's or Cassie's eyes, but also in Tobias's, and Jake's, and even in Ax's eyes. They had all already heard the explanation, heard the scream, felt the despair - probably as they realized that they had to let her go and that there was nothing they could do to save her… as well as when they heard the explanation from Ax. My body and heart were still numb, for all but one emotion: despair. I suddenly felt helpless, because there was nothing I could have done even if I had been awake.

But what if I had made it? What if I had been able to become an elephant without Visser Three's interference? Would Jamie still be alive because of that alternative scenario? I wouldn't be in the hospital, and Jake wouldn't have been stabbed… and Jamie would still be alive.

I felt the numb tears well up in my eyes as well as I realized this.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to no one but her nonexistent presence. "If it wasn't for me…"

I felt Tobias's hand tighten around mine, where it was out of sight, and I squeezed back, trying not to cry with all that I had. I couldn't do this, not when I was the most unlikely person of us to cry. Not when it had been my fault in the first place - I had no right to cry. It was my fault she was dead; my fault she wasn't here, watching me get better; my fault.

As if reading my mind, Tobias's hand squeezed my hand tight enough to make me jump, and I looked at him. I looked at his straggly blond hair, into those cool blue eyes, and at the solid expression he always seemed to have from being a hawk for so long. "It's not your fault," he said, but I shook my head. "It's not. Don't blame yourself Rachel, it isn't fair. Don't put yourself through this unnecessary battle with yourself. It wasn't your fault. It really, really isn't."

After a whole moment of hesitation, I closed my eyes and nodded, cherishing the kindness and sincerity he had put into those words. I wanted to say something to him, but couldn't because I knew it would only come out as a choke.

XXX

~ THE END ~

XXX

A/N: Sequel required?

No? Yes? Answer in whatever form you like best. I have one in mind.


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